The Darkness that Consumes
by T3rran
Summary: Sora Yamato is a young man of 17 years, and he's been cursed with a dark shadow. A shadow that will eventually consume him into nothingness. Using what time he has left, can Sora use this darkness to find the light before he himself is consumed? AU.
1. The Long Way Home

A/N: This is just a conceptual story idea I thought up just yesterday, and thought I'd bust it out onto paper. Hope you enjoy it! Though BE WARNED! Towards the end of this chapter, it's somewhat borderline M. I made sure to keep some details out, like a few nasty words, and some gruesome details. Just be ready for the scene.

_I can feel it…_

_This sensation, this agony, I feel it tearing away at me. Clawing its way out._

_I can't contain it. The whispers in my ear, the same voice saying the same thing, "Free me… I want to devour their hearts…"_

_I can't let this thing out… who knows what it'll do… but… it's so tempting to give in… to let this being out. It could be a relief from this life… this darkness inside of me… This monstrosity inside of me… this burden he gives me. _

_But, then I look around me, and I convince myself to cage him further. But, I don't know how much longer I can contain him. He's starting to leak out, I can see him. I look in the mirror and see his yellow eyes…_

Sora yawned, making a small whistling noise from his throat as he loosened the tie around his neck. Business as usual and that meant school dress code. Sora was okay with the dress shirt, and hell, the dress pants, too because they were comfortable. But the tie… the tie took it too far. The thing was damn near a noose. He couldn't walk with this thing around his neck… He'd get it stuck on a tree and he'd hang himself knowing his luck.

Yet, he couldn't just take it off… not with the threat of _her _appearing out of thin air and putting it on him tighter than he had it originally. Looking to his left, he saw the beach, and a few beach bums. To his right, the beach side of town, and in that mess, not a single glint of red. With a smirk, Sora began undoing his tie with a wide grin on his face. "Breaking dress code never felt so-"

"What do you think you're doing, mister underdressed?" Sora heard the girl voice, and immediately froze up. Caught. And not just caught, caught in the act of taking off his noose.

"Come on Kairi!" He pleaded. "It's just a neck tie! They won't bust me over something like this!" He showed her the tie proudly, throwing it on the sandy sidewalk. "Well, they shouldn't, anyway."

Kairi shook her head at Sora, and picked up the tie, and sure enough began retying it, and pretty much making sure he'd only whistle when he talked. "Sora, I know you're smart and all, but to be successful, you also got to look the part." With one hand, she began trying to push down his gravity defying hair. "And this too… I love your hair, but… why do you always spike it?"

Sora crossed his arms, taking his hand and loosening the tie Kairi had put on him… at least to a tolerable level. "I've been telling you since we were five, Kairi. As it still stands these twelve years later, I don't do anything. My hair just naturally…" Sora pointed to his spikes, "Does this. I couldn't explain it, even if I wanted to. All I know is it's a chick magnet."

Kairi laughed and smiled at him. "If you want to be a 'chick magnet' then look more like Riku, would ya?"

Sora pouted, "Now that's just a cheap shot…"

Both of them walked side by side, as they normally did in the morning on their way to school. Sora took great pleasure in walking to school with this girl. For one, she was rather beautiful. He often got asked by guys what she was interested in (to which he always replied 'well, definitely not you.') He was simply the lazy bum she happened to befriend. Right place, right time, as Sora put it. She was also rather smart, so when Sora managed to sleep in math, or English, she always kept him caught up. She was also a good friend to him. She told jokes with him, they laughed, they played video games, it was every guys dream… it was also why Sora had a slight dilemma. Kairi was his best friend, and unfortunately, a year or so ago, he began to start thinking about her a lot more.

One day, all of a sudden, he found himself staring at her. Nothing big, he normally zoned out while looking at her. But, it began to happen a bit more frequently. Then came dreams, and suddenly, she was the scourge of his mind. Sora was able to keep it contained, at the cost of some of his sanity. Riku caught on pretty quick of the whole deal, and had been subtly working his way to figure if Kairi felt the same way… based on what he told Sora, he was close to figuring it out.

As they arrived at school, they waved to each other good-bye and went their separate ways for the day until lunch. Then, it was nothing but them together… until they got home. Sora went to his first period class and sat there, listening to the teacher go on about basic Newtonian Mechanics. Sora, who did his best to listen, kept having Kairi's name and image pop into his head. So much, his hand started to move on its own. And unfortunately, he labeled the notes for the day: "Kairi's Laws of Motion."

Blushing didn't cover even half the embarrassment he felt. Quickly taking his pen, he scribbled it out as quickly as he could. Sora kept up with the mistakes, writing his equations wrong, his variables quickly became variations of Kairi's name, and worst of all, his notes started as notes, but quickly became short little skits of him telling Kairi he liked her, and she liked him back.

Sora gripped his hair tightly, scribbling it all out yet again, letting out an aggravated grunt as he did so. The teacher (Squall Lionheart… but known as Leon,) turned from the board, "Mr. Yamato, I do not think Newtonian Mechanic notes are so hard that you have to be aggravated already." Sora looked up from his extremely messy note paper, and heard the class snicker around him.

Turning red with embarrassment, he nodded, "Yeah… I tend to have problems copying…"

Leon smirked, and went back to the board, "Well then, I guess you'll never get in trouble for copying fellow student's homework, which, you all will have tonight. I want the first three problems on page…"

After that crash course in Crushing 201 (he had long since graduated 101,) the day went by rather smoothly. So smoothly, that is, until on the way home.

Just like their usual, Sora and Kairi walked the same way to and from school. Today, however, Kairi was feeling a bit more tired than usual. So, Sora suggested an alternate route. They could easily cut through one block of the lesser part of town, and shave a good ten minutes off their fifteen minute walk. Kairi was reluctant, but, Sora managed to convince her otherwise.

They were having a nice, casual conversation, but, Sora began to feel a bit paranoid. Turning his head around, he saw a young man pacing behind them, and just a few desolate people that appeared to minding their business. Sora's uneasiness spread to Kairi quickly as he said, "Kairi, I think we need to move outta here fast. I don't like the looks of the guys around us."

Kairi had no intention of going against that, and the two of them picked up the pace. The people around began to follow them, and suddenly, the bolted after them. Sora was an able fighter; he had gotten into a few tussles with seniors picking on the freshman last year. But, the odds were against him seven to one. Grabbing Kairi's hand, he bolted towards the exit, back on the more crowded beach area no more than ten yards in front of them. But, they were cut off. A large man stepped in front of them, "Now, where are you all off to in a hurry?" He asked with a cocky smirk on his face. "Stick around for a bit, and let us show you our wondrous hospitality." To this comment, the younger males behind them snickered, but, kept their distance.

Sora sighed, trying to keep his racing heart under control. "Okay, if you want money, I got about fifty munny in my wallet." Sora reached behind into his pants pocket, and showed the guy the wallet, and the bill inside. "With this money, I'd like to… buy passage through here, just for today."

The older man chuckled, exposing a few teeth missing, and a few that were so black they may as well have been missing. "Money? Oh, that's the last thing I need. I just recently removed someone else's burden of money." The man grinned, pulling out a blood stained wallet, showing it to both of them. "The poor guy didn't go down without a fight. His money was worth that much to him." Kairi gasped, and the man took advantage of her fear. "Oh yes, if I wanted money, I would have asked for it… kindly, mind you. But, I want something more, as do the guys behind me."

Sora knew what they were talking about, and Kairi did too as they locked eyes, he could see the fear and terror in her eyes. Sora didn't need to ask her, nor did he need any more reason to act. "With all due respect, I think this crowned necklace of mine would fetch a far greater reward than she would. At least ten thousand. It's a family heirloom that belonged to the last King of the Islands." He took it off, and hung it on front of the man, who was now slightly interested in the offer. "Whatya say? Feeling kind?"

The old man laughed, and nodded. "Yes. I am feeling rather kind today. I'll make sure to treat her real nice for ya, and take that as payment. Have your way with the boy, make sure he dies and I get the necklace. Then we get the girl."

Sora cursed and tossed the necklace into the air, making all of them shift their heads skyward, and in a few well placed punches, broke three noses. The other four weren't as stupid, and began to fight him. Sora wasn't armed, and when one of them pulled a knife, Sora again cursed under his breath. "Come on, at least fight me in a somewhat fair manner."

The knife guy lunged for him, as the leader sat back and watched, having a struggle finding where Kairi went. Sora took advantage of the confusion, and when the knife took a stab at him, he swiftly dodged, and in the same instant, snapped the guys arm clean in two, then broke it the other way. He picked up the knife, and held it, scaring off the remaining three guys. "Dude, what're we supposed to do? He's really strong!" One shouted towards their leader.

"I don't care; I got what I came for."

Sora shot his eyes towards the leader, and immediately saw Kairi being held by her wrist. "Kairi!" He shouted, pointing the knife at him. "Let her go!" He demanded.

"Boy, did anyone tell you that you should never bring a gun to a knife fight?" The leader fired back, pulling out a small pistol from his pocket. Sora gasped and took a step forward, and immediately, the man pointed the gun at him. "I've already killed twice today, and I have no problem making it three. Just back away, you'll leave here alive. We'll even return the girl after we're finished. Though I doubt she'll be the same."

Sora was unable to keep his feet planted, something inside of him forced him forward, and he darted towards the man, knife in hand, and poised to strike. There was a single shot fired, and Sora stopped in his tracks. He heard Kairi scream his name, and he could even begin to make out sounds of sobs. His body felt weak, and when he looked down, he saw his white shirt, quickly becoming stained with blood. "I… you really shot me…" was all he mouthed out. Sora looked up at Kairi and grinned what he believed to be his final grin at her as he fell backwards, his eyes drifting towards everlasting darkness. A darkness that would consume him, and end him.

There was no light; there was no sound around him as he laid still. He could hear the voice again… **"Let me out…" **it whispered. **"I want their blood to paint these streets… I want them scattered into so many pieces they'll be finding bits of them years from now… let me out… I'll save her… we'll murder them. Do to them what they've done to others so many times… let me out… I can win this… I can save you… let me out… They won't make it out of here… let me out… let me out…"**

Sora didn't give much in for a response, the only words he said as the darkness consumed him, "I can't hold you back anymore…"

With that Sora was reawakened, and jumped to his feet like a feral beast. His normally blue eyes became a beady yellow color, and his face showed no emotion. A black aura grew around him as he walked towards the group who had begun to surround Kairi. "Let her go…" he said.

One of them turned around with a silly grin on his face that quickly dispersed into terror. "Oh shit! Shit! He's not dead yet!" He shouted, pointed at Sora. This got their attention quick, and the leader looked at him with disbelief.

"Let her go…" He repeated.

The leader smirked. "Too late now, buddy. She belongs to me. Now, why don't you die already… or do you want to see your girlfriends innocence be ripped away before your very eyes?" When Sora did not budge, and only had the plain expression on his face, he became rather upset. "You bastard! Die!" The leader shot twice, and one even hit Sora in the head, and when Sora did not fall over dead, he dropped his gun in fear. "What… what are you? You're not fucking human, man!" Sora took one step closer, and they all took one back. "Stay away from me, you freak!"

Sora's expression widened into a grin formed from insanity. His body began to be encompassed by darkness. "I am redemption, and you… you're my prey. Run… run and I'll hunt you savagely…" He chuckled, "Run, you cowards…" His body became completely engulfed by the void substance and all that could be seen was his outline, the eyes, and a wide, insane grin. "RUN!" All the remaining four took off in different directions, and Sora went for the leader. Running on all fours after him, refusing to give up ground, Sora quickly gained on him. He could hear the man's panicked breath, and he could hear his muffled cries as Sora began to catch up. When he finally caught up, Sora pounced him, and knocked him to the ground, rolling him over so his horror stricken face was facing Sora.

"No! What're you gonna do? Leave me alone! I'm sorry!" He pleaded.

"Sorry won't cut it now, buddy." Sora's grin grew wider, as one hand pierced his stomach and tore left, while the other, tore right… the screaming did not die as he continued the savage act for two minutes, and the man finally died.

Sora got up, the black substance that covered him, was now painted in blood. "I told you I'd paint the streets with their blood…" He whispered, dropping onto all fours again, and darted towards Kairi. Sora got their and looked at her, and her partially shredded uniform. She had apparently fainted after seeing Sora get shot in the heart; her mind simply couldn't handle the shock. Sora kneeled down, his frenzied mind calmed when he felt she had a pulse and was still breathing. The black substance around Sora began to corrode, and drifted back into his shadow. The beady eyes turned back into their beautiful blue, and the black aura around him disappeared. The blood, however, remained.

Sora smiled at her, glad that she was still okay. "Kairi, I'm so sorry… from now on, we'll always take the long way…" Sora reached for her hair, and the first thing he saw on his hands was blood. Blood that wasn't his own… then Sora looked at his shirt, seeing that his front was covered in it. Then, there was the bullet hole. Sora was scared silent, and he looked down the road, seeing the leader of the group torn up. He shook his head, "No… no… no, no, no, NO!" He screamed. He dropped to his knees and began silently sobbing, "What have I done…"

His shadow rotated itself around to face him as he cried onto the concrete. **"It's not what you did, it's what I did. And to be fair, you planned on stabbing him, anyway. I would know, I'm your inner darkness…" **Sora looked down at his shadow, seeing those yellow eyes looking up at him, but, they quickly faded away, and his shadow returned to just that. A shadow.

Shortly afterwards, Sora looked down at Kairi, who was still out cold. Sora quickly disposed of his shirt, taking a nearby trash can fire and tossed it away to burn. Murder was still murder, he didn't need that traced to him. He took Kairi and moved her to the beach side where quite a few people had gathered hearing the screams and the gashing sounds, and when Sora emerged, many gasped, and Sora laid Kairi down. He looked up at them all, and grinned. "She's only blacked out… call an ambulance…" And he passed out.


	2. Diggin' up the Past

A/N: The concept of the story seems to be liked. First chapter proved successful, with five favorites, and four reviews, thanks going out to everyone who read through the first chapter, and those who left a review: expect a cookie in the mail. I hope for even better success, and hope this story never ceases to entertain, even after it's completed. Compared to the other chapter before it, this chapter is incredibly tame, and gives a lot of insight to the AU worold... and introduces a very important item.

_The being inside of me… he keeps slipping away from my grasp and running wild... like a puppy getting loose from his master..._

_I see him wandering in my house, I see his eyes everywhere…_

_I can't escape from him, he follows me everywhere, whispering the same thing, "I'm going to feast on your flesh…" _

_He's in my mirror, smiling at me… haunting me in my dreams… driving me to the brink of insanity…_

_Or maybe, I'm the insane one, and he's the saint that will alleviate the turmoil of being insane. _

Despite the encounter, the court date, attempted conviction of Sora as a murderer, and the weird darkness that was reported, life seemed casual. Kairi, while a slight bit more cautious of the outside world seemed just fine. Riku, their best friend (and Sora's better in fighting) was a bit more protective of Kairi. Other than that, the two of them simply made one hell of a story to go around school like wildfire.

Kairi, the victim, was swarmed by girls who worried for her, and wanted to know what it was like to be on the spot like that. They asked what it was like to be protected, and they asked all sorts of questions Sora had no doubt that they made her uncomfortable…

But, Sora could not approach her in school anymore. Sora ran into an issue with those around them. The students inferred that he had killed the man, as there had been no one else around. While it is not known how the man got so badly torn up, Sora was now known as a proven killer. Capable of killing anyone who got close to him, as well as protecting those nearby. However, no one knew which way Sora swung. Mass murderer, or righteous savior? No one really knew yet. Honestly, no one really wanted to find out, either.

So he was stuck with only his two best friends now: Riku and Kairi, the ones who had stuck with him through thick and thin. Unfortunately, they were the only ones, and he couldn't tell them anything about the weird dark form he became… or the voice he heard. The dark whispers that constantly haunted him now. When he dreamed, he dreamed of a shadow trying to take him into darkness. The mirror reflected half of him normal, half him like a shadow beast, grinning at him with its sickly smile. He was confused, he was lost, he was everything but knowing.

Which, Sora planned to fix. That day after school, Sora entered the schools computer lab, and dropped his stuff off beside his chair. Quickly dropping down, he opened the internet browser, and began searching. "Okay… how do I describe this shadow…" He asked himself, typing in the word 'shadow being' on the internet. All that popped up was a short wiki article on Shadow Men, or something of the sort. Those were all supernatural ideas that were brought about and scientifically explained. He didn't need that information. He was a dark being when he fought, and in the mirror, he knew it was no mistake on what he saw. Looking again, he typed in 'dark being' again, only bringing up more supernatural ideas and scientific proofs they don't exist. All the other sites were simply things to summon a 'dark being' or command one.

Sora ran a hand through his hair, "This is hopeless, I'm already out of adjectives to describe myself…" He sat completely stumped, and began typing random stuff in, each one pulling up different results that weren't really related to the dark being within him.

"So, you know the shadow those gang members were talking about in the murder case recently?"

Sora perked up, that was interesting to hear… given, it was about himself and it probably wouldn't end up too well in the conclusion. But, he couldn't help himself, they were talking about him. Silently getting up, he moved himself out of sight from the doorway… he didn't want them to see him and stop speaking.

"Yeah, what about it?" The other voice responded, probably a junior girl.

"Well, I was just thinking, since we're both in AP History… doesn't that sound a lot like the Heartless Curse?"

"You mean the one given to all of those who tried to betray the old royal family?"

"Yeah! That one! Anyway, the eye witness accounts all match up to what the cursed people may have looked like, don't you think?"

"Now that you mention it, yeah…"

Their voices faded out soon after that, and Sora's lightbulb turned on. "Thank you AP students." He whispered to himself, and quickly jumped back on the computer, typing in 'Destiny Islands Heartless Curse' and this time; he actually got five credible sites to browse, not counting the wiki site. "Alright Heartless Curse, let's see what you've got me down for…" Opening all six websites, he began reading the first one. "The Heartless Curse, the story behind the legend… In the year 300 B.D, or Before Destiny, there was an attempted uprising to betray the royal family of Destiny Islands, or as it was known back then; Fatum. The uprising- lead by Taichi- sought to over throw the royal family of Fatum, for the king was being unreasonable, and killing his people.

"The attempted coup d'etat nearly succeeded, had it not been for the royal princess of the time. Unbeknownst to the king, the princess had fallen in love with the rebel leader, and the rebel leader only stopped because she had stood in his way. Furious by this, the King decided to kill Taichi, and with magic, cursed the remaining rebels with a curse that would eventually turn them into shadows on the ground, forever cursed to roam the world as nothing more than darkness. After Taichi was killed, the Princess herself was sent into exile for betraying the King. Shortly afterward, the bloodline died out. There is no known surviving heir to the throne."

Sora nodded at this newfound information, and closed that website out, opening the next one. "The myth of the Heartless Curse… sounds good." Slowly, he progressed his way down all the remaining sites, learning nothing more than his first results had pulled up. Just myths and how they were scientifically disproved.

There was one little detail that caught his eye, though. According to textual evidence, the curse was supposed to die when the cursed men finally died. This meant in turn, that even if he were related to the men who were cursed, he shouldn't have the curse to begin with. Sora sat back, befuddled as to how he could have been given the curse.

With his resources exhausted, and he himself a bit tired, he got up. According to myth, he had only three months before the curse would consume him, and turn him into a shadow… and according to that same myth; there was only two ways to remove it.

Ancient weapons called Keyblades.

There were thousands made, and on Destiny Islands, the site where a major battle was fought with Keyblades, finding an old rusted one your dog found wasn't too uncommon. However, the myth called for two specific blades, and either one, or the other. The Keyblade of People's Hearts, or Oathkeeper. No other Keyblade would suffice. Oathkeeper would lock his heart (so the myth went,) and it'd save him from the Heartless Curse. The Keyblade of People's Hearts would instead, unlock his heart, allowing the curse to spread faster, and in spreading that fast, would kill him before the curse could take full form.

He really hoped he found Oathkeeper first.

Leaving the school grounds, he sighed. Finding two very specific Keyblades was near impossible. There were dozens around Destiny Islands, a lot of the more valuable ones were in collectors homes, and the historical ones were in museums. The odds of him finding one of the two he needed to cure his curse was rather slim.

Sora sighed in defeat. "I could scan all the nearby collector shops and never find the one I need…" Without a lead, he walked to the boat dock and dropped his stuff, looking out at the ocean water. The calming breeze was a nice change compared his frenzied mind. Sora looked out over the horizon, simply letting time wash over him, letting the sun set before him.

"You seem a bit lost, no?"

Sora quickly turned around and looked at the man who had startled him. "Wow, you scared me!" He laughed, taking in the older mans appearance. The guy had definitely seen his fair share of the worlds. Plenty of scars around his body, and the wrinkles definitely proved his wisdom. "So... what're you out here for?"

The old man smiled and sat down on the dock, taking his fishing pole, baiting it, and launching it out to sea. "I think for the same reason you are. To simply relax as the sun goes down."

Sora couldn't argue that. He laid back and watched as the bottom part of the sun met the ocean's surface off in the distance. "My names Sora Yamato." He turned to face the man and grinned widely at him. "What's yours?"

"Ohhhh, so you're _his _son!" The older man was fully focused on Sora now, who was slightly taken aback. "Now that I really look at you, your father had the exact same hair color, and that grin... it's definitely his. I fought with your father, Sora. During the Worlds War. He was one of the best Gummi pilots I ever saw."

Sora leaned in a bit now himself. This man here knew his father... but, his father was young. Really young when he died. No older than twenty seven. "But.. my dad wasn't that old. How did you all fight together?"

The older man chuckled. "I was an old coot back then, too. On my last legs as Gummi pilot, as a matter of fact. I flew with your father until those damned Nobodies from the World that Never Was got him. Shortly after that, I got promoted..." The old man paused for a second in thought, then blurted, "Oh! I forgot to tell you who I was. I'm Danny Vice, a Major in the Gummi Armada... most of my men knew me as Major D. Vice though."

With a nod, the old man continued, and watched his line a bit more closely as Sora looked back out over the waters. The man next to him really knew his father, and flew him when he was in the Gummi Armada... incredible. His mom hadn't been lying. His dad really was just how she described him to be. He kicked his feet over the edge of the dock, smiling to himself. He always imagined what his dad looked like... but, according to Danny, his dad was just like Sora.. just a bit older. That was something to think on later. He had a lot to ask Danny, the old man probably had some stories about his father.

But, before he could ask, the older man spoke up first. "Say, Sora, you heard about the Royal Castle and what they found there?"

Sora shook his head, "No... what'd they find?"

"Well, your necklace reminded me of it. But. apparently, they found a chest with that symbol on it hidden in a secret compartment under the kings throne. They think there's a special Keyblade in it!" Danny exclaimed, feeling a bite on his fishing rod.

Sora's heart skipped a beat in excitement. There was a special Keyblade... maybe that was the one he needed: Oathkeeper. Without wasting anymore time, Sora bolted up from the dock and took off running for the Royal Castle. He heard the man shouting after him, warning him the castle was closed for the day. However, Sora didn't have the time to waste sitting around. If that was the Keyblade he needed to fix the Heartless Curse, he needed it.

Sneaking in was a piece of cake. The security guards were worse than the mall security guards. The poor guys didn't even carry a flashlight bright enough to even come close to penetrating the darkness of night. What's more; Sora was incredibly light footed. The security guards didn't even here his footsteps over their own loud clanking of dress shoes. "Careful, don't scuff 'em." Sora snickered sneaking by the throne room guard. Pendant hidden in his pocket so as not to reflect the moonlight.

The throne room was massive. The ceiling reached up to at least five stories. The pillars were extravagant, each one finely detailed and polished. The red carpet, well furnished and gold trimmed. A place really befitting royalty. Sora walked up to the throne, and saw the old box. The last member of the royal family was a great king, however, the guy never had an heir... and somehow, the people defied the social norm of the time, and created a democracy... or at least, something really close to it. So, whatever the last king left behind... it couldn't be all that bad. Maybe his will? Or some secret to the royalty? Maybe even a holy relic... like the Oathkeeper Keyblade.

He sat down at the box, and grinned. Finding engraved on the oddly shaped lock a small riddle, "Thy royal knight who hath protected the Royal Family... show thy loyalty." No wonder the historians were stumped. According to history, the royal knights betrayed the King, and received the Heartless Curse. After that, the royal knights ceased to exist. Sora looked to and fro for anything that may have pointed him in the right direction. Then he heard the jingle in his pocket... his pendant. Right!

Danny told him how the lock resembled Sora's pendant. And, if Sora's idea was right, and his necklace was an heirloom, then his crown pendant would work! He reached into his pocket and pulled the crowned necklace out. With a grin, he put the crowned portion into the lock, and awaited confirmation. There was a quiet click as the lock opened up, and inside, there was a note. Picking it up, Sora read it lowly to himself, "Thy royal knight, as my final act as your king, I bestow upon you the greatest treasure the Worlds have ever seen: The sacred Kingdom Keyblade. Fight well, and protect our homeland from the coming darkness.

"Darkness?" Sora repeated, before he heard the large throne room door open.

"Hey! You! What're you doing here?"

Sora quickly turned around, and the Keyblade disappeared, as well as the note. There was a small light in the distance that barely shined on him. "Oh shit... how am I going to explain this..." He muttered.


	3. The Threat of Potential

A/N: Well, last chapter was not what I had originally wanted. But, it was desperately needed, considering just how far off this is in AU land. So, for everyone who found the chapter to be boring, and a drag, I hope this chapter fills the need for the more exciting part of the story, or at least, sets it on track.

_I am isolated… no one approaches me; all I have is the company of myself…_

_I sit alone, and see a glint of myself in the table; I no longer see myself looking up, but those yellow eyes…_

_This isolationism and containment… maybe I should break the darkness out of his confinement… let him run rampant._

_Maybe prove to those bastards around me I am what they think. _

A couple of days later, Sora sat down at his standard lunch table. He had been to court twice in the same month. One for being tagged as a murderer and assault charges, the other, theft. Both (except for the assault) were true. However, even if Sora wanted to confess to them, they had no evidence for either case to support the convictions. The paper Sora had and the Keyblade in the chest disappeared into thin air. Needless to say, Sora was completely lost in all of it. First, he had a run in with his inner darkness, which he later learned to be the Heartless Curse. THEN! To follow that, he is now in possession of a stolen Keyblade that belongs to the Royal Knights of the old Fatum Royalty. A weapon that was meant to be bestowed upon a Royal Knight… which, all are dead, or at least, the name ceased to exist before the last King was alive.

He simply fiddled with his food as the table he sat at immediately evacuated the area, giving him an entire table that could seat eight, and he had it all to himself. Charged with murder, and theft, no one wanted to sit around Sora. Even his two best friends were starting to question if he was okay. To which he had to always grin widely and say yes.

They were the only ones to sit with him at lunch, but today was a different story. Kairi was hauled away by her other friends, and Riku heard his calling at the cheerleaders table. A table meant for 8, supposed to have 3, occupied by one. It was torture, it was hell, and it was everything in between.

Sora, feeling no need to eat, got up silently, and threw his food away, and slipped away into the boy's bathroom. He looked at the sink in front of him, and washed his hands, feeling a bit sick to his stomach at the recent turn of events for him. His life had taken a complete U-turn, and was speeding the wrong way at two hundred miles an hour. For some reason he doubted washing his hands would help him in any way.

Turning the water off, he looked up into the mirror, seeing the all too familiar shadow appearance. The yellow eyes and the black void body that was outlined like his own. He stared at it with a straight face, and it stared back. He moved his hand, and it mimicked it, but when Sora put his hand back down, the reflection didn't. Instead, it brought both hands to press on the other side of the mirror, and it paused.

Sora was taken aback; his reflection prior had never been this active. It had always simply acted to his will. Sora watched in horror and curiosity as its head twisted left, then right, and back to vertical. It looked right at Sora, looking at his face, then the eyes noticeably trailed down to his chest… and it smiled maniacally. The voice in his head whispered to him, **"I'm coming for that thing in your chest… and when I have it… Oh the suffering I will cause…" **

Sora closed his eyes and shook his head, "No… I won't allow you… you won't…"

"**Everything you love… everything you know… I'll kill it… destroy it… Let me out… It'll be like last time… I'll slay everything I see, and tear those in my way piece to piece…" **

Sora shook his head more, covering his ears. "No… no you won't… I won't let you out ever again… I'll seal you, you hear me? I'll seal you, and destroy you!" As Sora finished, he pointed to his reflection, and in his hand, there was the Kingdom Keyblade yet again. His eyes widened, and dropped it, causing it to hit the ground, and disappeared into a ball of light, and reappear in his right hand. "No-no-no-no-no!" He sputtered out. "This day can't get any worse..." He muttered, slamming his head against the bathroom wall in an attempt to quell the dull throb of pain that he only made worse.

With his eyes shut, he heard the sounds of a flickering light. With a saddened expression on his face, he looked up, and saw the bathroom lights were flickering, and suddenly, they all went out. "That's it." He said, "Worst Friday in history."

As he said that he started to walk out of the bathroom, and Riku came in instead, armed with a steel rod. "Whoa!" Sora jumped back, almost slipping and falling on the floor. "What are you thinkin'? And why are you wielding that?" He pointed towards the steel rod.

Riku, with just as much surprise pointed to the Keyblade, "I'm just as impressed with that thing! How'd you manage to smuggle a Keyblade into school?" Sora closed his mouth and Riku shook his head. "Never mind that! We got bigger issues here. These weird… black creatures just randomly showed up, and they're causing absolute havoc!" Riku readied his weapon and swung at a small creature as it leaped at him. "And they mean business! They killed a teacher and took his heart out of his body! The guy was still breathing when they did that, too!"

Sora's mouth hung agape. Darkness… was this what that note meant? Did Sora trigger this event himself? Shaking his again for the umpteenth time, he shouldered his weapon. "Well Riku, we need to get out of here. Do you know where Kairi is?" He asked, and Riku froze stiff. "Riku… where's Kairi?"

Riku gritted his teeth. "Where is she? Sora, she saw you get up and leave the table. She came looking for you, and I thought… damn it!"

Sora felt his heart sink into his stomach, and he suddenly wished he had at least pretended to eat. "Riku, we gotta find Kairi!" Sora stated, looking around for where she could possibly go if she were looking for him. Kairi always knew where to find him, and that day, he slipped out of the norm and went into the bathroom… if it were a normal day, he would have gone to the computer lab… on the complete opposite side of the school. "Riku, we need to go to the other side of the school. I think that's where Kairi is."

Riku nodded in agreement, swinging his steel rod to cut the air. "Yeah. Let's hope we're not too late to save her."

Sora smirked, "We've wanted to be heroes for a while now… don't think this'll stop us." With those words, Sora took off, running through the upper lobby, Riku following shortly in tow.

All the thought that were running through Sora's head was that Kairi was okay. He didn't want to be too late; he didn't want to see her torn up like the guy he attacked and killed. The thought itself sickened him beyond belief. The pit in his stomach where his heart had dropped only seemed to grow as he became more anxious. Adrenaline pumping through his body, he was prepared for anything that came at him. He wasn't about to let anything happen to Kairi. He'd die before then. He swore it.

Speak of the devil, a few of the dark creatures Riku warned Sora about sprawled out of obscure hiding spots, and a few even appeared out of what appeared to be magical portals. Sora stopped in his tracks, glancing around as both Riku and Sora found themselves completely surrounded. "Damn, they didn't let us get far." Riku muttered, back to back with Sora.

Sora observed the two types of enemies in front of him. He noticed one had yellow eyes like his own, and was really small. Honestly, if it wasn't trying to kill him, it'd be pretty cute. The other stood about the height of a first year middle schooler. It also wore a helmet and a suit with a symbol on it. A weird looking heart… possibly, could these things be the same as the heartless curse he had?

The monsters didn't give Sora the time to think on it, and they dove after him and Riku. He heard a clang of metal hitting one of them from Riku's weapon, and Sora took a swing at one of the soldier-looking creatures. It shoot backwards, and fumbled around stupidly trying to orientate itself. Sora smirked, "Riku, these guys aren't that scary. They're pretty weak, even Tidus is tougher than them!" Riku nodded in agreement with Sora, and both became confident in their abilities.

Dashing away from each other, Sora cut one of the cuter creatures clean in half with his Keyblade, watching it turn into a black mist that vanished shortly after. He spun his blade carelessly, smacking two of the armored knight creatures into the ground, where he finished one off with a clean stab through its visor. Checking back on Riku, Sora saw him doing much better, with a piece of steel, no less. It was almost insulting to Riku how primal and predictable the creatures were. Sora pretty sure he saw Riku stifle a yawn. Sad little team. Even with five to one odds, Riku beat them all down.

Sora refocused himself on the last armored unit and charged at him, but, it was smart. The monster disappeared back into his magical portal, and was gone from sight. "Well… I was expecting a little bit more of a fight than that…" Sora turned back to Riku, mentally signaling him what they needed to do. And that was to find Kairi. Sora took off, and Riku ran right beside him, the jumped down a few steps, and turned to run towards the west wing.

As they entered the west wing hallway, a large, round dark creature fell from the ceiling, cutting their path off. "Holy shit, what are these things?" Sora asked, taking a swing at it, only to have his weapon bounce off harmlessly.

"Dunno, but they're after hearts, if the symbol on their suit means anything." Riku backed up a bit, holding his weapon in a battle ready stance, checking around him for a way around the thing.

Sora dropped into his personal battle stance, flicking his head around for the same exit Riku was looking for. "So… if they're hunting for hearts, are they missing a heart and looking for one?"

Riku shrugged. "Sounds like a good enough reason to me… so we'll call them Heartless?"

Sora nodded in agreement. "Riku, looks like there's no way around this guy. We should turn around and head the other way." As soon as he finished his sentence, another large Heartless fell from the ceiling, enclosing them both inside the hallway… and they were advancing towards each other. "Oh, shit! Riku, we need a way out of here, pronto!"

"I know, I know! And I'm looking as fast as I can!" He shouted, taking a swing at them, trying to keep the one in front from getting closer to sandwiching them. "Sora, I don't see a way out! I think we're trapped!"

"No shit!" He screamed back, simply taking wild swings at them, praying that maybe one swing would break through one of them before they were crushed. Each and every hit reflected back, almost as if there was some magical barrier between his blade and its body. "Why won't it work?" He vented under his breath.

"**Let me out…" **It said. **"I'll break through the Heartless… I'll tear them apart, and paint the halls in their black blood… I'll spear your best friends head with that steel rod he wields… Let me out…"**

Sora shook the voice out of his head. "Not this time…" He muttered. Refusing to give up hope, he continued taking his Kingdom Key, and hit the large, round Heartless as many times as he could, trying to burst through the barrier. The large two monsters were getting closer, and both the friends were back to back with no room left to move in. "Well, this looks like the end… guess we're just gonna have to hope Kairi made it out okay…"

"Hoy ya!" A voice sounded, shortly followed by a loud thunk, and the heartless that blocked the way forward disappeared. In his place, there stood a tall, lanky guy who wore goggles around his neck, and this guy was holding an incredibly thick dictionary. "Gee, you looked like you were in trouble, I hope I didn't hurt the big guy too badly…" Sora thought Riku was tall, but this guy was much taller.

"Aww, phooey. Who cares!" Sora watched as the big heartless that blocked them off from the back disappear too, and this time, a really short guy appeared. He was pretty pale, and carried a wooden stick, and had on a nice blue dress shirt and khaki pants. "I told you Goofy, these things are bad. Baa-aa-aa-d!" The smaller one shouted at the taller.

Riku shouldered his weapon and look between Sora, and the two new comers. "Who're you guys?" He asked. Sora nodded, and shouldered his weapon as well.

The smaller one replied. "I'm Donald Burns. Just Donald will work. And this here… well, I've forgot his name after all these years of hanging out as buds, but I call him Goofy."

Sora sighed, and looked at Goofy. "So… what is your name?" He asked.

Goofy straightened up, and prepared to answer triumphantly… but, he faltered and slouched back over lazily. "Gawrsh, I haven't spelled my name in years… even I forgot what it was!" Goofy laughed it off.

Sora laughed, and sighed. "I see why you're called Goofy…" Turning to Riku, Sora spoke directly to him. "Riku, we don't have a lot of time to spare. We gotta get Kairi-"

"Kairi? That pretty red headed girl?" Goofy said. "I saw her not too long ago… I think she was in trouble."

Sora's eyes widened in fear. "Kairi!" He whispered quickly, and bolted down the hallway. He could hear all three of them calling after him to wait up, but, Sora refused. Kairi was in danger, and he was not about to let her be killed. Sora counted the room numbers to himself, watching them pass. He entered the computer room, the door was closed, and it was locked. He fiddled with the lock, and in a rage, smashed the handle with his Keyblade, and the lock smashed with it. The door creaked open, and there Kairi was, bravely trying to defend a few of the younger students. He sighed in relief. She was fine. "Kairi! Oh, thank god you're okay."

She ran towards him and gave him probably the biggest hug he'd ever received from her. "Sora! For a while I thought those things got you!"

"Who, me?" He asked, "Never." He pulled out of the hug as Riku, Goofy and Donald arrived in just to see the end of the hug.

Riku cleared his throat. "I love touching moments, I really do. But, we don't have enough time to waste it on those moments right now."

Both Sora and Kairi blushed in embarrassment, and separated themselves quickly. "Right… right." Sora mumbled to himself, keeping his eyes focused on the situation at hand. All of them walked over to the students cowering against the wall and helped them up. "Donald, you seem like the kind of guy to know where everything is around here. What's our quickest exit?"

Donald tapped his foot, "Well, let's see… I think it's-"

Goofy interrupted him, "If I remember right, there's an exit just a bit further down the hall."

"He asked me, you big palooka." Donald took his wooden stick and smacked Goofy over the head with it. Goofy simply rubbed his head and gave Donald a stern look. "So, I take it we're gonna use that to escape, right?"

Riku nodded. "That's the plan." He looked down at a girl who had a cast on her leg. She seemed panic stricken, and Riku swept her off the ground and into his arms, to which, the girls jaw hung open. "Let's go. Everyone follow Donald and Goofy. The tall one is Goofy, the smallest is Donald."

Goofy grabbed Donald by the collar and dragged him out, all the while the group could hear the short guy rant on about how he, "Wasn't short, I just haven't hit my growth spurt!"

Kairi started out the door after Riku, but, Sora grabbed her wrist, and looked at the ground. "Sora?" She asked, "What's wrong?"

Sora shook his head, "Nothing… but, just so you know Kairi, all I did was wash my hands, you don't have to worry about me that much." He looked up at her, grinning through his lie. She giggled at him, and shook her head. Sora released his hand around her wrist and Kairi ran off to catch up to Riku.

Sora smiled to himself. Kairi really did do so much to him on the inside. More than he could ever explain to her, or even himself. For no word existed for the great feeling she gave him. With a grin plastered to his face, he chased after her, following her towards the exit…

That is, until an invisible barrier cut him off. Kairi heard the magical noise, and turned around to see him on the ground rubbing his head. Sora saw her through the barrier, too. However, he could not hear what she was saying… and neither of them could cross the barrier that had formed. Focusing really hard on Kairi, he smashed his hand on the barrier, trying to get through. He kept shouting her name, hoping she'd hear him. Sora could see his name forming on her lips, and Riku ran back and had to convince her to leave him… that went bad, and wouldn't have worked, had Riku not picked her up off the ground. She kept fighting him, refusing to leave Sora behind. Sora watched her lips move, and caught the ever so familiar words…

"Sora, behind you!"

Sora turned around quickly, expecting another one of those extremely large heartless. Instead, there was a much, much larger one. A good three stories tall. Sora's mouth hung wide open, this was a bit more than just the standard heartless. Sora's eyes widened and he stumbled back in fear. "H-holy shit…" Sora stumbled backwards, trying to get away, only to have himself backed against the invisible wall.

"**Let me out… I have no problem killing one of my own… I'll tear it apart… I won't even be hurt… Let me out… it'll be our victory."**

Enraged by the voice, Sora took a more offensive stance. "Ours? Like hell. It'll be mine." He muttered, silencing the voice inside his head. Demonic voice aside, Sora needed a way to take this large heartless down… fortunately, it put a large barrier up, encasing them both in a ring. It'd limit the damage to the school, but no doubt everyone could see the large being, and odds are, someone, somewhere, was watching. Sora stood still observing the monstrosity, watching for a weakness. The only one he really found was the monster was slow. So slow, he could run figure eights between its feet and he'd never get kicked. He swung his Keyblade, and shifted his weight. "Well, guess I'll hack it down to my level!" He told himself, running in, and simply swinging at the large monsters legs. The Keyblade proved incredibly effective, cutting into the dark substance of the heartless with a purifying white light as it cut. The white light quickly dimmed, being replaced again by the black goo. Swinging all he could, he kept hacking at the things ankles, hoping that eventually it'd fall over, and he'd be able to finish it.

The heartless did not appreciate his laughable attempts at stopping it. As Sora continued to cut through its leg piece by piece, he missed the arching hand that would swoop down and pick him up. With a speed he deemed impossible, Sora was scooped up, held tightly by the monster. His Keyblade hand was free, and with all his adrenaline pumped might, he started swinging at the monsters wrist. To no avail, and the grip only tightened.

Sora began to panic as he could feel the things fingers begin to squeeze the life out of him. He cringed, screaming in agony as he began to hear parts of him crack. This wasn't the way it was supposed to happen, he was supposed to fight. Supposed to win. Supposed to save Kairi… looks like he failed both. Riku saved her, Sora was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. As his spine received all it could take, and the sickening crack of his body finally cracking under the tremendous amount of force on it, the monster let him go, and he fell all the way down, hitting the ground. Sora laid motionless on the tiled floor, and all he could think of was how familiar this situation was. Failure to save Kairi yet again, and he had refused the help of the darkness within. This time, however, Sora didn't even release it.

Instead, it forced its way out. **"You are weak…" **it whispered. **"My kin cannot withstand a true Keyblade Master… let me show you the power of the darkness you withheld out of pride and fear…" **Once again, Sora's eyes changed to the yellow color, and the black substance once again covered his body. Sora tossed the Keyblade aside as it vanished into light. Sora cackled evilly, and sprinted on all fours towards the large heartless, and leaped in the air. With deadly accuracy, he clung to the head, swinging around to land just behind the skull, and with a flurry of stabs, he ripped away the darkness towards the back of the head, so much, that there was not dark substance to replace it with.

After he did that, he pounced onto the left arm at the elbow joint, and with an evil laugh, took his right hand above his head, showing the black claws, and tore right through the elbow joint, then followed it with the next hand. This was how he had to win… Sora had to deconstruct the thing piece by piece. Sora laughed as the forearm fell to the ground and vanished into a black mist. **"Darkside! You see what I can do? With a heart this strong, not even an army of you could stop me!" **He shouted, leaping off the Darkside as it tumbled over, falling slowly and vanishing without a single sound. Just a burst of air, and a black mist scattering. **"This… this is true power!" **Sora shouted, smiling evilly. **"I will destroy everything! I will devour the worlds! Nothing can stop the inevitable now!" **The shadow version of Sora looked at his hands, watching the black substance corrode and Sora's white skin could be seen underneath the fast dissolving void. **"It's only a matter of time… before I will consume your heart, Keybearer." **

As the last bits fell off, Sora stumbled backwards, falling down. The voice in his head receded into nothingness, and he laid there, aching. The pain of wounds that once were, showing where he should be broken and battered. However; his body showed no sign of such injury. Again, the heartless curse fixed his body, breaking it back to perfection… only to be used for whatever it was to use him for until his body could stand no more. Sora's vision began fading, but, he could see Kairi running towards him. "No…" He whispered to her figure. "Don't come near me… I'm dangerous… I'll hurt you…" She did not stop, and he could see tears in her eyes. Apparently, his wounds weren't as covered as he thought. "Stay away… the darkness within will consume you, too…"

"Kairi..." Her figure rested over him, her voice falling on deaf ears. Sora continued with his warning to her, he had to keep her away. He was dangerous… he would kill her… the heartless within would consume, her too…

"Kairi… I'm not worth saving…"

A/N: Everyone who reviewed chapter two, and everyone who's favorited thus far, thank you for reading this installment. This story will be my very first attempt at a lengthy story. So, if you feel something wasn't right within a chapter and needed expanding on, tell me. I guarantee I'll only make the same mistake a few times if you point it before it becomes habit.


	4. Glass Hope

A/N: And late as it is, here is the second chapter. Thanks to the dedicated reviewers, you're support is always appreciated. For the closet readers, your tally on the Hit's is just as important too! Anyway, here is the next chapter.

_This creature has shown his true face… and his true intentions._

_I thought I was in control… but I was lying to myself the whole time…_

_He's breaking out… what little I was in charge of, he's slowly working his way through._

_With one month gone, he's growing in power within… he's using me as a staging ground…_

_And I'm beginning to wonder, if this battle is winnable at all._

Sora awoke in his own bed, with a slight ache in his back. He arose quickly, thinking on why he was in his own bed. Still with a blurry vision from just waking up, Sora was almost immediately lowered. He still didn't know what was up, and Sora simply tried to get back up, only to be pushed back down.

His vision coming back to him, Sora saw a glint of red looking hair. "Kairi…?" He mumbled, trying to make out what he saw.

The head nodded. "Finally, you're up." No mistaking it now, that was definitely Kairi's voice.

Sora sat back up much slower this time, and looked at her with a small grin on his face. "I ache everywhere, and yet, I feel rested." He checked under the covers to make sure he at least had shorts on, and, fortunately, he did. Tossing the covers off, he looked at Kairi, his vision finally focused. Her eyes were still puffy as if she had been crying some time prior to him waking up. "Hey, Kairi… you okay?" Sora asked.

Kairi nodded hesitantly at first, but, she then shook her head and began crying again. She immediately hugged Sora, and squeezed him much tighter than the Darkside ever did. "Sora…" She sobbed into his white shirt, "I-I saw you get picked up by that monster… and-and… I heard you screaming… I was so scared that it had killed you!" She sobbed even harder into his chest.

Sora was at a loss for what to do. The girl he often daydreamed about in class was in front of him, gripping him as if he'd slip through her fingers like sand. Without really knowing what else to do, he put his hands around her as well, giving her words of comfort, "Kairi, you know I can't die to something like that. It's impossible. No chance." She pulled away from his embrace and looked up at him; her tears had stained her cheeks. "Besides, even if I do fall, Riku will always be there to save you where I can't." He nodded at her, "So, you don't need to cry."

She shook her head. "But… what if I don't want Riku to save me?"

Sora sat silently for a moment, "Well… then I'll come to your rescue." He stated with confidence.

Kairi smiled, wiping her tears away. "Promise?"

Sora nodded. "I promise." He smiled back at Kairi, and realized her face was kind of close to his. Closer than he had originally thought. However, Sora had no urge to create a distance between him and Kairi like he normally did when she was this close. Instead, Sora was content with looking into her eyes. Her lips also seemed to be pursed out slightly… her face also appeared to be getting closer to his. Or was it his? He couldn't really figure it out, and honestly, he didn't care for some reason. As he got closer to Kairi, his eyes closed, hoping he didn't miss…

He didn't miss, but he didn't reach either.

There was a knock on the door, and Riku barged in. "Sora, I heard you stir and-" Riku made a mischievous smirk, "Well, you two are certainly touchy-feely today. Did I already miss the first kiss?"

Sora flushed red, and Kairi about turned the same color as her hair. Sora jolted back, hitting his head on the bed post, while Kairi fell off the side of where she had been leaning on him, and onto the floor. Sora looked at Riku, who still held that little smirk. "We… we… n-no, we didn't, but we almost, I… um…"

Riku looked over at Kairi, "Kairi, why don't you get some of the food downstairs for your boyfriend."

Kairi blushed even more, but walked speedily out of the room, to which Riku chuckled. "Well, I told ya I was getting close, didn't I? Can you guess who she likes?"

Sora shook his head, his mind going back to being stubborn and oblivious. "I have no idea what you're talking about. She did it out of… out of… heat of the moment! Yeah, heat of the moment."

Riku laughed, and took a chair to sit on, and the moment he sat, his face changed expression completely. "Sora, I saw what happened when you were fighting that large Heartless. The black creature you turned into. I know about the Heartless Curse, and I want to know this: Are you one of them?"

Sora gave him an appalled look. "Are you kidding me, Riku? After what they just tried I'm not even close to joining their side! Plus, you saw what I- it- did. It killed its own."

Riku nodded. "Well, at least we're on the same page… so how long you got?"

Sora shook his head. "Two months at the most…" Sora stripped his shirt for a new one, and began digging around in his dresser looking for one. "But, you can't tell Kairi. There's a chance I can stop the curse, I just need a specific Keyblade called Oathkeeper." Sora took his black shirt and sat on the bed with it in hand. "If I can find that blade… I can rid myself of this curse." Sora looked up at Riku, pointing at him with the hand that held the shirt. "Don't tell Kairi this…" He began, but was cut off by said girl.

"Don't tell Kairi what?"

Before Sora could even respond, Riku was already up and a friendly arm around her neck. "Don't tell Kairi that Sora's been working out. Look at him, he's being modest, but I know you see the outlines of a four pack developing!"

Sora shot straight up. Yeah, he had been to the gym a bit more frequently than usual (the gangs really upped his awareness on just how physically weak he was,) but he didn't think it was already at a noticeable difference. He blushed and quickly decided to try and put his shirt on fast. "I, uh… well, after those gangs attacked us, I figured I needed to be a bit stronger so… yeah." Sora slid the shirt overtop, stopping just at his chest and looked at Kairi… who's eyes were almost in a dazed stare at his abs. "Uh… Kairi? You alright?" He asked, putting his shirt on all the way.

"Oh, and Sora also told me not to tell you that he had a wonderful day planned this Saturday for just you and him."

"I did?"

"He did?"

Riku laughed. "Of course you did, Sora! You even gave me these two movie tickets so you wouldn't lose them!" He handed the tickets to Sora and walked to the door. "You guys go on ahead and watch that movie. I got some research to do for my Worlds History class." He waltzed over to the door, "Remember kids, no surprises!" Before walking out, Riku tossed Sora a small square item.

Sora, curious to what it was, opened the palm of his hand and turned crimson red at the packaged latex protective gear. Looking over at Kairi who looked at him with curiosity, he threw the protective item into his pocket. "So… since we got these tickets… you wanna go see a movie?" Sora asked, chuckling nervously. Kairi agreed to his proposal with a hesitant nod, and they left Sora's house.

On the streets of the Island, Sora looked over at Kairi, wondering just how much of the fight she saw… if any. Riku saw the damage and what he turned into. Did that mean Kairi saw as well? It was a question that plagued him for a majority of the walk, and most of the movie (which was a romantic comedy that seemed quite similar to his own situation.) They left the theatre, and were on their way to the park by Sora's request, and he looked over at Kairi. His childhood friend, and perhaps the first crush of his life. And perhaps, the first girl he (dare he say it,) loved. With those thoughts in mind, he waned to know… no. He needed to know if she saw his cursed self. "Hey Kairi."

"Hey Sora." She smiled up at him, making his question even harder to ask.

"How much of the fight did you see? You know, when I was fighting the large heartless…"

Kairi looked at him for a second, then at the ground. "I didn't see any of it. I heard you scream in pain, and Riku kept me looking the other way, telling me not to look." She stopped in her tracks looking out at the setting sun. "Sora, all I knew was that you were in pain, and that monster was killing you slowly. When I heard your shouting stop after that disgusting sounding crack… I became deaf to everything else around me. I thought you were really gone."

She looked back at him, and Sora could see tears brewing slowly in her eyes yet again, and he couldn't stop his hands from wiping away a lone tear that fell. "Well… you don't have much to worry about, Kairi. I'm not going anywhere. Remember? I got a promise to keep. And I will never make a promise to you that I couldn't keep."

Kairi smiled at him, and the tears she had made began to fade. "Promise me that, too?"

Sora nodded, and taking a bold move forward, he narrowed the space between them. "Promise that, too." Sora himself leaned in towards Kairi, stopping just a few centimeters from her nose. He didn't know how he got so close, nor did he care. And by the way Kairi's eyes closed, he doubted she did either. Once again closing his eyes, Sora leaned in a bit closer to her, almost connecting the gap.

Key word being almost.

Sora's phone rang, causing both teens to again separate themselves like they had been shocked. Reaching into his pocket, Sora pulled out his phone, and cursed to himself a thousand times over. Riku really did have impeccable timing. "And you said you were a fan of these moments…" Sora muttered before answering the phone. "Riku, what's up?"

"Sora, I found Oathkeepers only potential burial spot."

Sora pressed the phone closer to his ear, "You did?" He whispered, trying to keep Kairi from over hearing him. "Where?"

"The secret spot."

Sora looked back at Kairi and smiled, trying to put her curious mind at ease. "Are you serious?" He loudly whispered.

"Positive! Now hand the phone to Kairi, she'll find this interesting."

Sora wasn't too sure as to why Riku would ask for Kairi. Honestly; it was probably no big deal. He handed her the phone, and Kairi answered with the standard hello… and the conversation Riku and her had went… incredibly smooth. Sora wasn't quite sure if he told Kairi the same thing, or not… or if the conversation had nothing to do with Oathkeeper. When she hung up and handed him his phone back she had a wide smile on her face. "Riku said to meet him at the secret spot, he said we're going on an…" she snickered a bit, "He said we're going to explore deeper into the place… to look for lost treasure." She busted out laughing, and Sora couldn't help but laugh with her. "I thought Riku was more mature than that. But, I think it'll be fun!"

Sora nodded, and they spent the rest of the way to the secret place talking on and on about what secrets they may uncover, or a pirates old treasure chest. Sora let it slip that he thought they'll find an ancient Keyblade, where Kairi thought he was just joking and that no ancient Keyblade existed. The walk was simply filled with poking fun at Riku's idea, and simply having fun as friends. However, in the back of Sora's mind, he kept questioning the scenes before. He had almost kissed Kairi, and even before that, he had made her two promises. One was that he'd never die on her, and second, he'd never make a promise he couldn't keep… he had to ask himself which one was a lie. The curse he had, and the curse she was oblivious to was going; to kill him if this Oathkeeper turned out to be a fake, or a myth. He sighed absent mindedly, and Kairi looked at him. "Sora, what's on your mind?"

He jolted from his thoughts and stared at her blankly. "I…" He started, then closed his mouth and settled for a shrug. "A lot of things, honestly." If only she knew the half of it… but, perhaps it was better if she didn't. No, it _was _better if she didn't. "It's just the weeks been crazy, you know?" He pleaded silently that Kairi would forgive him for his half-truth.

Kairi giggled and nodded. "It has been pretty crazy. The murder case, theft case, and the heartless attack on our school… I'm surprised you haven't been put in a mental institution."

Sora laughed, though albeit nervously. "Hah…ha… y-yeah! M-me too!" He played along. Again, if she only knew the half of the inner conflict he had between himself and some… insane monster within him.

Before Kairi could comment back, Sora entered the secret place, and looked at the large wooden door within it. Prior, they didn't know what was beyond that. Now, both Sora and Riku were positive, that behind it laid Oathkeeper… well, at least Riku was positive.

As both he and Kairi entered, Riku greeted them both, and gestured towards the large wooden door next to the roots from the tree outside. "Sora, you remember the writing we found on the door all those years ago? I think it's the clue we need to get in."

Sora walked over to the door, and engraved on it read: "He who hath found this door, show thy loyalty to the Fatum Royalty."

It clicked in Sora's head instantly, and the Kingdom Keyblade appeared in his hand once again. "This must be what it's referring to!" Sora held the Keyblade to the door, and in a fanciful show of lights, a keyhole in the door appeared. Kairi looked between the two, unsure whether to be excited, or scared of what may happen next. Sora, on the other hand, took the Keyblade, and inserted it into the keyhole, and turned the blade. A loud unlocking sound rang throughout the cave as the door crumbled into the ground, being consumed by the sands beneath.

Sora looked at Riku and Kairi before venturing in first. Within the area stood a large, cylindrical room, with torches that glowed with blue flames encircling within on large pillars. Despite being in a cave, it was really well lit. Sora lurched forward, his weapon at the ready in case something (namely a heartless) appeared and decided to attack all of them. However, no such attack came. All three of them wandered within the room cautiously, Kairi and Riku encircling the outside, while Sora made his way towards the center, where a stone tablet lay.

"That must be where Oathkeeper is." Sora said to himself, steadily walking towards it, with both of his friends making their way from the outside towards the stone tablet as well. Sora approached the table first, his heartbeat at an incredible speed, and he grabbed the top of the tablet, as did his friends. Together, they pushed it off with all of their strength, and together, they looked at each other. Sora and Riku both nodded to each other. Both understood the necessity of the weapon that may lie within. Sora held his breath as he looked down. But all he saw was his hopes shattering.

Oathkeeper; was broken.

…

"_Sir, I am pleased to inform you that phase one has been completed."_

"_Perfect. All is going as planned. Proceed with the first part of the second phase."_

"_By your command, sir."_

A/N: Day late, a dollar short. These past few weeks have been crazy. Just got done graduating from high school, so I had little to no time to write this with preparations for graduation, and running around as my parents showed me off. xD Regardless, hope this gave everyone some suspense for the next episode- I mean, chapter.


	5. To Repair a Promise

A/N: Well, a much quicker update this time, and this chapter covers a lot of ground, and is slightly vulgar in the first bit of it. So skip two paragraphs when Sora gets to the cubby hole in the city if you don't want to read a lot of Sora cursing. Anyway, thanks to all the signed reviewers who are keeping up with this story, and the closet viewers for keeping me in business with at least clicking on the story.

_My only hope at redemption… has been broken._

_What is there left for me to do? This monster is an unstoppable fiend… but, I can't give up. That's a sign of weakness. I am not weak… I am strong… I will overcome._

_I must overcome. If not for anyone else, for the dear princess of Fatum…_

Sora's widened in horror as the weapon that was to save his life, lay shattered before him. "No…" he muttered to himself. "Why…" He asked. "Why… why, why, why, WHY?" he muttered under his breathe, fighting back tears, and the look of lost hope. He needed to remember his audience. There was Kairi, there was Riku. He couldn't burst into tears, screaming curses at the world and his luck. Not with Kairi next to him. But the pang of hopelessness rang out within.

Sora slowly reached into the stone, and pulled out the largest piece of Oathkeeper. The teeth of the blade crumbled to dust, as did half the blade itself, leaving cracks within the remaining blade. One part of the guard was missing entirely, while the other was only half there. Sora took the weapon and held it close to him. A broken Oathkeeper could not repair the damage done to himself, and he could not repair the broken blade.

The blade disappeared into a bright light around his hand, and all the remained was a small letter that fluttered down from the ceiling. Sora reached up to catch it, and oddly enough, it was addressed under his family's name. Yamato. Curiously, he opened it up, looking inside to see the lonely sentence:

"_Broken by a promise unkept."_

Without a word, Sora resealed the envelope, and handed it to Riku. He looked up, and Sora knew that Riku had seen the broken look within his eyes. "Sora…" Riku muttered. "Look, not all hope is lost, we still have a chance. The weapon exists, so there must be a way-"

Sora shook his head. "You've done all you could." Sora muttered. "I'll do what I can to live the rest of my days happily." Turning around so his body (not his eyes) faced Kairi, he held his stomach. "Kairi… I'm not feeling too well. I'm just going to head on home myself, alright?" Sora walked slowly towards the exit, almost brushing shoulders with Kairi.

"Sora?" He heard her ask.

That one word hit his heart like a bullet, and suddenly, he felt more dead than he did when he found the broken weapon. He shook his head. "Not now…" He replied, and ran out of the cave, out onto the streets, and found a nice little cubby hole between two buildings. In the dark, alone, he slid down the wall and buried his head between his knees.

"Of all the places… of all the times." He sobbed. "Why now… and why me?" He shook his head harder, and in a fury, punched a wall. "Damn it!" Suddenly unable to sit still, he got up and simply began punching everything he could reach, and kicking all his feet could touch. "Stupid FUCKING curse!" He shouted, kicking a glass bottle into a wall, smashing it into many jagged pieces. "Piece of SHIT Oathkeeper! You broken piece of work! Worthless, stupid, damned WEAPON!" He punched into the concrete wall again, leaving two specks of blood from his knuckles. "When I needed her most, lady luck simply kicks me when I'm down and LAUGHS in my fucking face!"

Temper flaring, and knuckles dripping blood, he walked out of the little hide away, and looked up towards a high building as horrible thoughts entering his head. That glass bottle could do the same thing jumping from a building could… maybe he could even bleed the curse out. But then again, the building-

"You seem to be a bit down on yourself, pal. What's the matter?"

Sora turned to the voice, a short man with a somewhat squeaky voice. He wore a black trench coat, and had a hood covering his face. "Why do you care?" He snarled at the small man.

"Because, isn't there some reason you need to stay alive? I know that look." He walked towards Sora, and poked him in the chest. "And that's a look of rage, and hopelessness. Isn't there a person you want to stay around for, maybe a promise to a friend?"

Sora laughed, slightly psychotically. "Nope. Because the promise I made to the friend… I'll break it in two months. So why not get it over with now?" He asked. "Why not end it now so she'll hate me for all eternity, and move on quicker?"

The small man took a step back. "Gosh, sounds like it'll be hard to convince you otherwise." Sora nodded to the man's statement. To which, he smirked, "Not even the knowledge to fix Oathkeeper can sway you?"

Sora took a step closer, with two questions; "How do I fix it? And how do you know about Oathkeeper?"

The small man chuckled. "Welp, it's a long story. I've been keeping close tabs on you, Sora. That's all you need to know. As for fixing the Oathkeeper… there's a man named Yin Sid." The man pointed towards a large hill just beyond the island cities limits. "Over that hill, you'll enter a small place called Twilight Town. On the crest of the tallest hill, lives the old guy."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold it." Sora interrupted. "But Twilight Town has been under some sort of lockdown lately… something about a-"

"Shadow-like creature attack." The man finished; with his smirk evident in his speech. "Sound familiar to a high school attack here?"

Sora nodded, beginning to place pieces together slowly. "So to get to the man, I need to fend off those heartless creatures… that's the plan, right?"

The man shrugged, tipping his head to his left and right. "Sort of. Listen pal, you don't gotta defeat them. You just gotta slip by them. The weapon you have now, that Kingdom Key. It's powerful, and not to mention a Fatum Royal Knights weapon… but, the point I wanna tell ya, is that weapon is the bane of those creatures existence."

"Wait…" Sora paused, trying to connect everything. "How do you-"

The man dropped into an alert stance, and held his finger to his lips. "Not now. There is a time and place for everything. Go home, Sora. Prepare yourself for your adventure to Twilight Town. We will speak again sometime soon." A portal enveloped the man, and within that instance, he was gone.

Sora stood there, flabbergasted at the use of magic… and the new knowledge he gained. Coming back to reality, Sora reached into his pocket, and dialed Riku. "Riku? I found some useful information on how to fix Oathkeeper…" He paused to let Riku take in the small information, and let the storm of questions flood in. "I'll explain everything on the way. Meet me by the western city limit bus stop… we're going to Twilight Town."

Sora nodded as the conversation continued for a bit, and he hung up. Tomorrow was the day he'd go to Twilight Town to fight those creatures, and fix the weapon… but, Riku wouldn't be enough assistance. He paced himself to a bench and sat down in thought. He didn't want to get Kairi involved in this whole mess. He didn't want her hurt, either. So, she was out of the question for assistance. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "Who else do I know that can help me?"

"Help you with what?"

Sora looked up to see a small teenager… pale white, and his friend. Sora smiled. "Donald, Goofy." He began with a mischievous smirk. "You all up for a little adventure tomorrow?"

That next morning, Sora slipped away from his house. He was with his Keyblade and his crown pendant. The bus ride over was short, but the wait was agonizing. Sora sat on a bench, but found he couldn't sit still, so he got up to pace, but then his legs became too weak to support his body, and he'd go to sit down on that bench again. Then, he'd only repeat the process for about five minutes. Sora's thoughts, however, weren't ones of confidence either. Rather, thoughts of what they could possibly encounter. The shadow-like attacks aren't exactly specific on the kinds of shadows they are, and for Sora knows… well, they could all be like that really tall one that nearly killed him. Sora ran a hand through his head yet again as he sat down on the bench. This time, he sat and was actually able to remain seated for a few minutes. His thoughts kept flashing back to his near death against the large heartless, and how many different ways it could've killed him.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a series of footsteps. Looking up from his waiting spot, there stood his two companions, and best friend. Each of them armed with something unique. Riku stood with his special Keyblade, a unique one called Way to Dawn. Sora remembered getting that blade a year or two back. Sora and him were sparring on their island when Sora finally swung one too many times and broke Riku's wooden sword. That next day, his parents bought Riku a Keyblade… which wasn't fair to Sora, as his mother couldn't afford him one.

The other two, however… their weapons were rather uncanny. The Keyblade was an effective melee weapon, and could also channel magic if needed. However, Donald simply wielded a staff, and Goofy… Sora had no idea what Goofy planned on doing with a large shield alone. "I know the power of Riku's weapon… but, what's the story behind your alls?" Sora asked.

"Well," Donald began, holding his staff out. "This here is the Royal Courts magic staff! It's an honor to hold it alone! And I was entrusted with its use… mostly because I'm the only one with the ability to use magic in my family… it skips a generation, see-"

Goofy bumped Donald, cutting him off from finishing what would have probably been a long rant. "And this here is a Royal Knights shield. It didn't belong to a captain or anything… well, so my parents tell me. But it's one of the last things left of the Royal Knights that died out. Poor fellas…"

Donald thwacked Goofy with the magical staff. "Goofy! It's not like your family was a part of the Royal Knights anyway. You're a part of the _Knights_, not the Royal ones."

Goofy immediately perked up. "Oh! Right! That makes more sense now! And here I thought I was gonna question the history books!"

Riku interrupted the two, "Family history isn't important right now. What is, however; lies over that hill in Twilight Town. We must get there, and we must find this Yin Sid guy." Riku shouldered his weapon and looked at Sora. "More of those shadow creatures-"

"Heartless." Sora interjected.

Riku nodded, "-heartless, are within the town. We may have to fight our way to Yin Sid. You all up to it?" Riku asked. There was a unanimous answer with a nod of the head from everyone, even Riku himself nodded to answer his own question. "Sora, your Oathkeeper, your point. Lead the way."

Sora barely gave any sign of recognition before stepping in front of the group, and walking ahead. This was the moment of truth. If this Yin Sid guy was alive and well, then perhaps, Sora could cure his curse. Thus, Sora could live his life normally again. Well, as normal as he could knowing full well that he could have been turned into a Heartless.

As they crossed the crest of the hill, they looked down to see Twilight Town a small distance below them, and on the other side of the town, the location of Yin Sid. To be fair, his house was more of a tower. Not like Sora cared much about it, much easier to spot that way. What was somewhat disturbing, however, was that the town beneath them was dead silent. Sora could not hear the sounds of people, the noises of tech, and there wasn't a trace of cars. It was every definition of a ghost town.

Turning his attention away from the town to Riku, Sora noticed his friend had the same troubled expression. Sora looked back down at the deserted area. "Well, we've come this far. No backing down now." Sora began his walk down the hill towards the entrance, his friends footsteps not too far behind his own. His thoughts were a little erratic, and his heartbeat, a slight bit more so. Even so, Sora couldn't turn his back. There was too much at risk for him not to at least see. After all, he was a dead man if this failed, or turned out to be a flop.

Walking into the town, everything they heard from the hill, proved right. The town was empty, save a man holding a 'The end is near' sign. Goofy was the first to comment on the empty town, "Gawrsh, it sure is spooky."

Donald, once again, thwacked his friend. "It's not that scary! I'm not scared one bit!"

"Hey! You guys!" A voice called out.

Immediately, Donald shrieked in fear and cowered behind Riku who chuckled, "Yeah, not scared one bit my ass."

The voice turned out to be a boy about Sora's age, and his left arm was bandaged up heavily with almost crimson red stains covering the bandages. "You have to help me!"

Sora nodded, "Calm down, we'll help you… uh…"

"Hayner." The boy answered. "My friend, Olette… those shadow things took her and I need to rescue her!"

Riku scoffed at Hayner. "Are you kidding me? It looks like they already tore you up. Leave it to us, we'll get her. Where's she at?"

Hayner pointed towards the large building… on the highest hill within viewing distance. The same place they needed to go. "She's up there, along with a few others, including that old man, Yin Sid."

Sora nodded, "Good. We were heading there anyway. Stay here, Hayner. We'll get Olette."

"No!" The boy shouted. "No… it's my fault she's there. Pence is in the hospital already… he almost died. I got away lucky… I need to rescue her; I can't leave it up to just you all alone."

Riku scowled. "Look, I said it already. You're injured."

Hayner shook his head, holding a light blue bat with a yellow handle. "I'm fine! They didn't hit my Struggle arm. I can fight them! I'm tagging along whether you want me to or not!" Hayner looked towards Sora, "Please… I care a lot for her. I don't want her to get involved any more than she already is."

The final words struck Sora at home. It sounded a lot like him and Kairi… almost one hundred percent like them. Nodding Sora turned around, and pointed towards the building. "That's where we're heading. Stick close, everyone. I don't want anyone getting hurt, especially you Hayner." Sora turned his head around and grinned at said boy.

Hayner grinned back. "Right. I promise I'll stick as close as possible. Now, let's go rescue Olette."

With Hayner added to their little group, they advanced forward towards the large hill. Very light skirmishes within the streets occurred, but nothing they couldn't handle. With majority weak heartless, even with the odds of numbers against them the Heartless were just lack luster in skill and cognitive thinking that all of them, even the crippled Hayner, could tear right through them. The streets were cleaned when they walked through. No heartless remained where they had been. As they entered the large tower, the battle changed.

Riku kicked the door down, and Sora rolled into the large circular room, finding a spiraling staircase. The floor had random, perfectly circular holes within them, the design was very specific… the same symbol that the heartless had on their chest was on the floor. Sora inspected it, "Is Yin Sid… a heartless?" He asked to no one in particular.

"No… but if you keep wasting your time, he will be."

All of them turned to see a tall figure shrouded in a brown cloak. Hayner ran out in front of the group, and pointed his bat at the figure. "YOU!" He barked, "You're the one who took Olette and put Pence in the hospital!"

"Oh… well, I didn't do a good job. I meant for both of you two to die…" The man shook his head, "I really do hate leaving a job unfinished. However, now that Sora is here… guess I have no choice but to leave it as is."

Hayner clenched his teeth in burning hatred and charged in headfirst. "You bastard! Don't you dare think you can simply toy with me!" Hayner swung his bat at the man, but he missed.

The cloaked figure took out two chained weapons, and threw them at Hayner, hitting both his shoulders, and impaling him on the wall. Hayner's shriek of pain could be clearly heard… as could the man's psychopathic laugh. "Listen here you little runt." He said taking a knife out of his pocket. "If I really wanted you dead now, you'd be on twenty pieces scattered about this place. However, you got a lucky break. You showed up with Sora."

Sora dashed towards the cloaked man. "Let him go! If I'm the one you need, leave Hayner be!"

The cloaked figure laughed again, "Oh, you're quite noble, despite that curse deep within you. However, I have no intent of taking you. My boss wouldn't really like that." Sora and Riku held their weapons ready to strike the man, but he had more to say than that, "Oh, and did I mention the pretty lady up at the top? What was her name… O… Omelet? No… Ollen… nope not that…"

"Olette!" Hayner shouted, still pinned with his chest against the wall.

He raised his finger, "Oh yes! Thank you, boy. Olette is up there, hanging by a thread. When I say thread, I do mean it literally. She's hanging from the ceiling, and last I checked, there were some of those disgusting critters chewing through the rope… It sure is a long drop down from there…"

"NO!" Hayner shouted, trying to break through the chains. "Let me out of this! I need to get to her!"

The man laughed, "Fine! Go ahead. I'm not going to stop you, and the heartless are all out of the house. You got a clean shot, because I won't stop you… on one condition." The cloaked figure took the chained weapons out of Hayner, and pointed them at Sora. "He stays. My boss wants to judge his abilities."

Riku looked over at Sora, who nodded. "Riku, we both know my answer. Help Hayner, and make sure Yin Sid is alive and well." Riku took off for the stairs, as did the rest of his friends. All that was left on the bottom floor, was himself, and the cloaked figure. "So… how do you know so much about me, and how do you know about my curse?"

"Long story, and I'm not going to explain at this time."

Sora let out an aggravated grunt. "Tell m-" A chain wizzed right by Sora's head, grazing his cheek to trickle blood.

"I said long story. I need you to focus on the fight… I don't want my chain knives to 'accidentally' slip and kill you."

With the battle underway, Sora dodged the second chain, and ran in to swipe at his enemy, who nimbly dodged much more fluently than Sora did. Sora held his weapon close as they exchanged a few quick blows between themselves. This cloaked man really knew how to fight. Taking a wide swing at the man, Sora was met with yet another parry. Undaunted, Sora swung once again, bringing his blade down on the man. Nothing a side step couldn't dodge, it seemed.

The man quickly took advantage of the downward strike. Sora was stuck for a split second, forcing Sora to go on the defensive. The man flung his chained weapons in a pattern Sora could not decipher, making each duck and sidestep hard to identify. Sora parried a few with sheer luck. The cloaked man then got slightly ahead of himself, throwing his chained knives directly at him.

This changed the battle back into Sora's offensive attacks. Action rolling left to dodge the knives, Sora ran in, striking at the man's left arm. The attack proved semi successful as it threw the man slightly off balance in the dodge. Sora took full advantage of this, and proceeded with a flurry of coordinated attacks. Left, right, thrust, down. The attacks were quick, and the cloaked figure was having issues dodging them. However, in one attack, Sora was countered as the cloaked man shot out a chain around Sora's legs. Sora was forced to dodge left, leaving both of them at a standstill.

"You're good… but this is it!" Sora rolled under the next attack the figure swung out, leaping into him and kicking him clean in the chest. "You-"

"'re mine!" The figure finished, wrapping the chains around Sora's feet, and as they hit the ground, the cloaked man leaped up, and sent Sora flying over in an arch, where he smashed back first into the ground, knocking the wind out of him, and tossing his Keyblade clear across the room. "Whew, well your heart's in the right place! But holy shit you're a terrible fighter! I guess you learned how to fight on the side of your favorite breakfast cereal?"

Sora growled at the man, feeling the voice begin to speak to him once again. **"Let me out… I can clobber him. We don't need a fighting style… we just need to tear him inside out… and make sure he lives to see it…"**

As if the man heard the voice, he chuckled. "Violent one within ya, isn't he? You've definitely got the strong heart my boss was after. You're suppressing that anti-form of yours really well. Way better than we originally thought."

Sora coughed, "So, it's got a special name. Anti-form, huh?"

The figure removed his chained weapons from around Sora's legs, and hid them once again. "Whoops! Let that detail slip." The figure stepped back and bowed, "Well, my job here is finished. And by the looks of things, so is yours. We'll meet again, Sora… next time though…" The figure revealed its eyes to Sora, a very bright yellow that almost stared into his soul. "Next time, I'll be out for your heart." A dark portal appeared out of the ground, and within seconds, the portal disappeared, along with the figure.

Sora got off the ground, inspecting his wounds, finding nothing but a few bruises, and a couple of cuts. Nothing a few days of healing couldn't fix. Turning towards the staircase, Sora took off towards them, and ran up the spiral.

Upon reaching the top, Sora saw Goofy supporting Hayner as he untied Olette from her hanging spot. The moment she was free, she latched into Hayner so tight, that Goofy tumbled backwards, throwing them both onto the floor, where Hayner cushioned Olette's fall. Hayner held her tight, and Sora distinctly saw a single tear slip from his eye. He laughed and muttered to himself. "Even the tough guy has his weakness." Sora smiled at them, and for a brief second in his mind, he was able to replace the two with himself and Kairi… and silently, he wished for the same. Minus the life threatening situation, the injured arm, and Kairi being kidnapped.

Thinking on it, he just wanted her to hold him tight.

"Are you the boy who was seeking to repair Oathkeeper?"

Sora turned to face an old man with a beard that extended far longer than possibly Sora's body. In a short nod, the man continued. "I am Yin Sid. As your friend told me, you have need of knowing how to fix the broken weapon." Sora nodded again, and Yin Sid continued. "Well, normally I wouldn't give this information out, but since you assisted me in getting that cloaked man out of the Town… I guess I can assist."

The broken blade appeared in Sora's left hand, and he held it out for Yin Sid to inspect. "A note with it said 'Broken by a promise unkept.' Please, tell me how it can be fixed."

Yin Sid nodded, "The only way to fix Oathkeeper, is by keeping a promise through great sacrifice."

Sora quipped an eyebrow. "Run that by me again… how big is the great sacrifice?"

Yin Sid shrugged. "I do not know. You must keep the promise by any means necessary. That big sacrifice, is left up to you."

Sora sighed, keeping promises was easy, but with such a vague starting point, fixing Oathkeeper was barely a few steps closer than where he started. But, at the very least, he knew it was possible. "Well… it's a start."

Yin Sid nodded. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I must retrieve my wand and throw the rest of these heartless vermin out of Twilight Town." As he was walking off, Yin Sid paused in his steps. "But, young boy, don't forget. Even amidst the darkness, there is light. Always remember, yin and yang." Yin Side resumed walking, and disappeared behind a large set of doors.

Both of the Keyblades in Sora's hands disappeared into a small light show, and Sora was now without weapons. Not that it really mattered, Yin Sid said he was going to take care of the remaining heartless around. And knowing the state of the place, probably through magic.

Sora redirected his attention towards Hayner and Olette once again, Olette was on her feet, leaning down to help the injured Hayner back off the ground, and when she pulled him up, their hands lingered on the other, their eyes locked for a bit longer than they should've, and their smiles… a bit _too _friendly towards each other. And when their fingers interlaced, Sora knew they liked each other a tad more than friends.

He blinked once in realization. This was almost identical to his and Kairi's situation… except not nearly as far along. He chuckled a bit, and gestured towards them. "Hey, you two lovers right there!" Both of them looked at Sora, then each other, then their interlaced fingers. Sora laughed when they broke away, Hayner looking the opposite way trying to act 'cool', while Olette shyly twisted her leg with a shy smile… and both kept glancing at the other.

Riku ruffled both of their heads (being the eldest of them all,) "Come on lovebirds. You all gotta get home, and so do we. This man here has to see his lovely girlfriend as well."

This time, Sora turned red. "S-She's not my girlfriend, Riku!"

Riku pinched his friend's cheek as he walked by. "She may as well be with how often you two flirt. Come on, I wanna get home…"

Sora quietly entered his house a little after the sun had begun to set. Tired and near exhausted, the most notable sound he could hear was in the living room. He dragged himself in the doorway, seeing his mother's eyes glued to the TV. "Hey mom wh-"

"Shh!" She silenced him.

Curious, Sora looked at the TV, seeing it was on the news. "…and now for our main story tonight.

"The president of Destiny Islands, has been assassinated."

…

"_Sir, the first and second part of Phase two have been completed."_

"_Excellent work. How did our subject fair?"_

"_He's weak for now. He needs more time to develop into the warrior we need him to be."_

"_Very well. Keep close tabs on him, and keep the Heartless attacking him. And this girl… Kairi… she's very unique. Keep a close eye on her. She may become useful to us."_

"_By your command, sir."_

A/N: This time, a much lengthier portion of the story. I am pleased to announce that without the authors note, it was about 4,650 words, equaling out to be about 13 ½ pages. As the plot thickens, I hope to pull in more readers, it only gets more intense from here on out.


	6. To Keep a Promise

A/N: Sorry this update took so long… I've had some major problems with life lately, and after being in what should have been a fatal accident, I'm just happy I was actually able to get this to you all.

_With a weapon for recovery, I can do this._

_I have the means, I have the idea, I have the will._

_All I require from here on out, is your faith… and honestly, your love._

Sora awoke that next morning with a yawn. Sunday adventures were not the best of ideas. Especially with school the next day. Without thinking, he walked downstairs as per his usual morning routine (in shorts only) and walked into the kitchen. "Morning mom…" He mumbled.

"Sora?"

Sora turned towards Kairi's voice, "Oh, hey Kairi. I can't remember the last time you stopped by my house to get me for school." He yawned, barely focused on anything as he stumbled towards the cabinet to get his cereal. "What's the occasion?"

"W-well, th-there's no school today. You know, t-the presidents assassination and all…" She stuttered out.

Sora poured his bowl of cereal, the words barely even registering. "Oh? Well that's great."

"Well… since there's no school today… I was thinking we could-" She paused for a second, "Sora, you do realize you're making your bowl of cereal with orange juice right?"

Sora stopped for a second, and looked down into his cereal bowl, seeing that his milk was indeed orange. "Well that's weird…" he yawned, looking at the carton of orange juice. "Maybe I'm just really tired and thinking it's orange." Sora plopped down next to Kairi at the table, his eyes not registering how red her face was. "Anyway… what were you saying?" He asked, taking the first bite out of his cereal without a change in his expression.

"Well, I was thinking… would you like to go out with me-" Quickly, she corrected her sentence, "-to the island! Go out with me to the island! Yeah, to the island."

"Sure, it'd be a lot of fun. Haven't been to our island in a while, just the two of us." Sora took another bite of cereal, munching on it extremely casually. "Oh, and why'd you stop by my house if you knew there was no school today, Kairi?"

Sora noticed a long pause and random sounds exit her mouth as he asked the question, "W-w-well, I thought we had s-school until your mom said otherwise… so I wanted t-to walk to school with you…"

Sora smiled, slowly starting to awake from his half-sleep state. "Oh, well that was nice of you. I love walking in the mornings with you, Kairi." Finishing off his cereal, Sora awoke fully, his taste buds giving him the oddest feeling. "You know, that last bite was really sour." Sora looked down into his bowl, and his face turned pale. "I… I ate orange juice and cereal…" Sora looked up at Kairi, and his face turned crimson to match hers. "K-K-K-Kairi!" He jolted up, looking at his dress attire. "Um… uh… Kairi, hi… hi Kairi! What're you doing up so early today?"

She gave him a flat line stare, her blush slowly disappearing. "It was supposed to be a school day today. But it got canceled because of the president's assassination."

Sora looked left and right, noticing a note on the table that stated his mom had already left for work. He looked back at Kairi, "Well, that's an awesome bummer. So… then why'd you stop by?"

"To tell you school was out. And while I was here, you said we'd spend the day at the island." She grinned as Sora's face continued to go deeper into a red color.

"O-oh! That I did!" He lied. He didn't remember what he said… that tricky Kairi knew he was a blabbering idiot in the mornings and seemed to have tricked him into the day with her. Though she didn't need to trick him like this… it's not like he would've said no. "Well then, I'll need to... yeah, I'll be right-"

Right then, the door opened, and Riku walked in. "Sora! We don't have school today! So I was thinkin-" Riku looked into the kitchen, and saw Sora in his shorts, and Kairi in summer clothing. "Sora, you sly dog! You really did get lucky! So, did you use _that_?"

Sora's face (if it was at all possible) turned even redder. "WHAT? NO I DIDN'T USE _THAT_!"

It was Riku's turn for his face to turn ghostly white. "Oh god…" Riku rushed over to Kairi, looking her in the eye and inspecting her stomach, "Kairi, do you feel funny? Have morning sickness yet? Thrown up any, feel like something is in your stomach that isn't food?"

There was a loud slapping sound like a gunshot, and Sora bolted upstairs to take his shower. He was not about to be a part of that conversation any longer. Rushing in and looking the door behind him, he looked at his face in the mirror, seeing the nigh purple face of his, and looking down; he realized he'd need a cold shower, rather than a warm one.

After Sora finished his shower, he came downstairs to see Riku leaning in the fridge with his arms crossed and a blood red handprint on his face. Kairi, on the other hand, looked at Sora and there was a pink tint that absolutely refused to go away. Sora looked between the two, "So… I take it you two made amends?" He joked, before Riku shot him a death glare. "Hey, I was joking!"

Riku pointed to his cheek, "Until this mark of misunderstanding is gone, we're on neutral terms."

"Well… why don't we all go to the islands, then?" Sora asked, trying to appease both audiences.

Kairi was first to react. "Sora, I asked you to come! Why're you inviting Riku as well?"

To which said Riku replied, "Oh, I'm sorry. I wouldn't want to ruin your chance to make out with Sora on the sandy beach next to the sunset…"

"T-THAT'S NOT WHY I ASKED HIM!" She shouted, her face tinting to a red once again. "We just haven't been to the island in a while…" she muttered, followed by something Sora couldn't even begin to hear.

Sora tilted his head, unsure of the situation entirely. "Well… then let's all go! We haven't been to the island in a while, and who knows, maybe we'll run into Tidus and them."

So, with Riku obliging and Kairi barely fuming, they left. True to Riku's words, up until the red mark on his cheek finally disappeared, he spoke not a word to Kairi, and only treated her as an acquaintance. The moment it was gone, she was instantly best friend once more. Upon reaching their little hidden dock, they departed towards the small island that was left to them by Riku's wealthy parents. A nice, small private island for the kids to enjoy their time. Some of Sora's greatest memories lie within this very specific island. The Secret Spot (which was where Oathkeeper was buried,) the awesome tree house, the shack… a bunch of stuff they did as kids and a few things more recently. Few things have changed on the island. The only thing that's really changed is how they got there. They used to have small rowboats… now they got a few motorized waterborne craft… like a speed boat and jet skis, (of course, donated by Riku's parents.)

Upon arrival, they saw a large pontoon boat, and another speed boat already at their dock (one they built themselves with parental help… the fact it can withstand all it's been through is a complete mystery. Even the parents expected it to collapse after the first year.) Looking at what lay in both sets of vehicles, it could easily be determined that the other kids were here as well.

Sora looked over at Kairi with a smile on his face. "Well, it'll be more fun with lots of people around!"

As they got off their watercraft, Sora adjusted his trunks and looked at the beach. It was a little more than just Tidus and Wakka… there was Selphie and a few of her friends. The moment Sora and Riku got off the dock; they immediately smiled and ran for the smaller islet. The same place with the paopu tree, and their place of sparring. Sure enough, one beaten up wooden sword, and a duct taped one laid there, ready for use. "It's been forever since we've sparred." Riku said, picking up his duct taped sword.

Sora picked up his beaten up sword, a grin plastered on his face. "It's been a while since we've had a competitive anything. You know, with the going ons lately and all."

Riku crossed his weapon over his body, "How 'bout it Sora? Wanna go a round?"

Sora nodded, "Let's go, Riku!"

"You're on!"

Riku wasted no time, and struck at Sora first, clunking him on the head (fortunately, he pulled it.) Sora rubbed his head for a second, "Okay, that was not fair." Sora took his shirt off and tossed it aside on the ground, and Riku did the same. "Now let's go!"

Sora and Riku ran in at each other, taking swings that both dodged easily. Riku gained the upper hand when Sora tripped over a newly grown root. Riku struck down at him, which missed Sora by an inch or so due to Sora's unpredictable fall pattern. Finally catching himself, Sora rolled backwards onto his feet, shouldering his sword. "Is that all you got?" Sora taunted.

Riku smirked. "Not even."

Riku charged for Sora. Sora readied his sweeping kick, but instead, Riku jumped left. Caught off guard, Sora barely had time to roll forward and leap up on his feet. This time, Riku held his blade in a cocky manner, shaking his head. "Hmph. You still don't got it."

Sora grinned widely, rushing in barbarically and started simply swinging at Riku. He parried everything with ease. Eventually, Riku swung back, knocking Sora off target. To which, Riku took a powerful swing, one that Sora blocked with the flat of his wooden blade. Shoving Riku off, they once again began parrying each other's strikes. Until finally, both stepped back and swung at each other, Sora striking upwards, Riku bringing his blade down. The two weapons collided, and a resounding crack rang out.

The two wooden swords, having all they could take, broke apart, leaving only the wooden hilt behind.

Sora looked up at Riku, and Riku was first to speak. "Well, looks like we're going to need new swords."

Sora had a different idea. "Riku, talk is cheap. We aren't done yet." Tossing the broken hilt aside, Sora put up his fists. "This fight continues. Just… pull punches, alright?"

Riku nodded, throwing his hilt behind him. "Fine by me. But you don't have to pull your punches. I doubt you could hit any harder than Kairi."

"Careful, or I may knock you out." Sora retorted, both of them readied their legs to charge back in once again, but both were interrupted by an outburst of cheer.

"Go Riku! You can beat him!" Both the fighters turned their heads to see that amidst their fighting, the group of girls with Selphie had begun to watch the fight. A blonde girl wearing a bikini (more like thin string,) waved at Riku. "You can win!"

"You got this one Sora!" The raven haired girl next to the blonde one shouted. "Show him you mean business!"

Sora looked over into the group, and a little to the right, he could see Kairi giving the girl the biggest stink eye ever. Now that Sora got a better look, Kairi hadn't removed her t-shirt yet, but she bikini bottoms on. Sora turned back to Riku and whispered, "Hey, forget the fight. Kairi hasn't taken her shirt off yet… is she self-conscious or something?"

Riku smirked, "Look at the other girls. Of course she is. You can fix that though."

"How?"

Riku edged in closer, pretending like he was trying to bait Sora. "On my mark, we'll stop the fight and go for Kairi, we'll pitch her in, and then you jump in after her… and reassure her she looks good. Got it?"

Sora nodded, "Got it."

"Alright… on my mark… GO!" Both Sora and Riku took off after Kairi, who had no time to get up and run. With little effort on their part, Sora and Riku picked her up, Sora taking her arms, and Riku her legs. Together, they took her to the deepest edge, and tossed her over. Sora, following Riku's instructions, jumped in after her. Sora cropped up out of the water, laughing… until he saw Kairi's face that was bursting with anger.

"Sora! Why'd you throw me in! Now my shirt is all wet!" She fumed.

Sora stopped laughing, "That was the point… your shirt was on… so we decided to drench it so you'd be forced to take it off."

The normally peaceful Kairi wrapped her fingers around Sora's neck, beginning to manhandle him. "Sora! I kept me shirt on because I didn't want to take it off! Is that too complicated for you? Now I have to take it off…"

Sora, gasping for what little air he could between dunks managed to squeak out, "But you look fine… probably even better without the shirt."

She blushed for a second, fiddling with the bottom of her wet shirt. "Really?" She asked, shyly smiling to herself.

Sora nodded. "Yeah! I'm positive! And if you really think you don't, you can use my shirt. It's back in the boat."

Kairi nodded, and with a little bit more confidence, removed her wet shirt to show her bikini top. Much to Sora's (not) distain. He smiled and nodded at her, "See? Even better than I said."

"Sora!" Riku shouted down at the two of them. "Quit staring at my best friends cleavage! We have a fight to finish!"

Sora turned red in the face almost instantly, turning up to shout at Riku who was snickering, and a few of the girls around him giggling. The blush deepened as he hung his head, bumping into random objects, occasionally Kairi, as well. As he climbed the ladder back up he could see Riku giving him a knowing smirk, to which Sora shook his head. "It wasn't like that, Riku!"

Riku's smirk only grew in width. "Yeah. 'Take your shirt off' isn't wanting to be any more than friends, right?"

Sora opened his mouth to retort, but to no avail. He only made random noises that caused Riku to laugh even harder. Sora popped his neck a bit, and got into his fighting stance, ready to continue. Riku about did the same, but as he got ready, both of the friends spotted the dark portals appear around them. Sora and Riku both had the same idea, and both of them switched their attentions from each other, and to the Heartless that had surrounded them, and everyone else.

There wasn't a doubt in either of their minds what was to come. Sora once again managed to summon his Kingdom Key (while he had begun learning how to summon it, at this point it was still a toss in the air on if it would show or not,) and Riku did the same. In a less fanciful show of lights, Riku's appeared in his hand. Sora gaped at the feat, and Riku shrugged. "I did the magical binding too. I thought it was a bunch of garbage until I saw you had your blade summoned at school."

Sora was about to explain that he never did a magical binding, but a heartless had taken the initiative, and engaged on him. Sora fended it off without so much as a swipe, but rather jabbed it with his blades hilt. Suddenly, more and more appeared, surrounding the little islet with at least fifty in the mix. Sora turned to Riku, "We have to get the others away." Riku had no objection, and ran towards the group of girls, defending the black haired one.

Sora on the other hand, was quickly surrounded. He rolled his eyes, "Oh, great. They don't see me as a real threat without Riku." He ran at one, and smashed it into the ground, watching the black mist pop from it. "I'll just prove the wrong." Just like last time he fought the monsters, they came at him in small numbers, the numbers never achieving anything higher than 3 at a time. They came at him steadily, and were defeated just as steadily. Sora begin questioning if they were even trying with how they were acting.

Then he heard a low grunt, and a scream. Turning towards the scream, Sora saw that Riku was actually fighting one of the large heartless… the very same kind that had killed him, and brought him back as a shadow creature.

And by the looks of things, Riku was losing.

Sora didn't have the time to think, all he knew was that Riku needed help. Sora didn't wait another second, and readied his Keyblade, charging in head strong towards the large heartless. Once again, no better plan in mind than hacking at its ankles until it caved in, or switched targets. Sora slashed away at the monster, his slashes very clearly cutting away at the things body. The black mist was flying all around where he was swinging, much more than the last time he fought it. Perhaps, with any luck, he was getting stronger. He didn't need the shadow creature he withheld.

After so many hits, the creature finally dropped Riku, who sprung onto his feet, not missing a beat. The creature froze in place as it tried to recover from all the… blood? Mist? Whatever it was it lost. Riku looked at Sora, his blade steady, despite his stance being slightly off from the crushing grip the monster had. "Sora," he asked, "how do we beat this thing? It's gotta be at least ten times our size!"

"Why're you asking me, Riku?" Sora shouted, watching as the creature began recomposing itself.

"You killed it once! Where is its weak point? The core, or whatever it has?"

Sora thought for a second, then remembered. He tore the things arm off, then started ripping through its head. The head was its weak point. "Riku! We have to get on its head!"

"Brilliant!" Riku shouted with sarcasm dripping out of his mouth. "And just how do you propose we do that, smart one?"

Sora glanced and looked at its arm. The arm formed a pretty sturdy bridge that could get them to the head. And whenever it went down, it angled its arm at a steep angle, but it was just shallow enough they could run up it. "We'll cripple it again, then run up its arm!" Sora exclaimed, pointing to each spot as if the idea were foolproof.

Riku looked flabbergasted, but shook his head. "Sora, when the teachers said 'think outside the box' I don't think they meant it to go this far. It's all we got though." Riku and Sora both smirked, "I got the left."

"And I, the right." Both warriors diverged away from one another, and began hacking at the legs, the creature, entirely unsure of who to kill first to stop the pain, simply wriggled around, it's legs firmly placed in the ground by some sort of unseen force. Once again, the creature fell to one knee, and as Sora predicted, the arm dropped at its specific angle. "Riku! Time to go up!"

Both broke their previous engagement, and began running up the arm. Riku dragged his blade up the arm, cutting it up as much as he could, and Sora, taking the lead, jumped on a strand of the darkness that hung like hair. Gripping it, he swung to the other shoulder, landing a little roughly, but standing nonetheless. Looking back at Riku, both nodded, and took their blades, and began puncturing where they could reach on the neck. The being jolted in pain and sheer agony. Standing and flailing, trying to find the small beings on its shoulders…

However, unable to find them, it finally decided to meet its end. The being stopped flailing, and began toppling forward towards the ocean. Both boys looked down with wide eyes. They hadn't really planned the escape… But both knew the really only probable chance of survival was to… well, jump.

Both of them counted in unision, "One… Two… THREE!" Both ran forward, and made a leap of faith. Both boys hadn't quite expected to actually get clear of the head as it toppled into the ocean… and both hadn't expected to be dragged under by the sudden wave.

Sora looked up, dazed from the fight, and slightly out of breath… too tired to swim up. He closed his eyes, and dropped the Kingdom Key, he wasn't sure if it disappeared into light. He floated upwards, and with luck on his side, he reached the surface before he could run out of air first. Gasping, he treaded the water, looking for Riku. "Riku!" He shouted, "Hey! Riku! Quit screwing with me man!" There was the sound of a head poking above the surface of the water, turning towards it, Riku's silver hair whipped around, shaking water out of it. "Okay good… you scared the shit outta me."

There was a low clapping noise as a man hovered above the water, walking towards them… and shrouded in a brown cloak. "Very good, Sora! And you too, Riku. You managed to topple one of the largest, and scariest heartless around!" He cackled and shook his head. "Well, my boss should be happy. If you can do this, then you can easily become what we need! I think you really are strong enough!"

Sora clenched his teeth. "You bastard! You told the heartless to attack us, didn't you?" Sora swam towards the guy, ready to use his bare hands to strangle him… and his left eye began turning into the beady yellow eye the heartless had.

The man wagged his finger, "I wouldn't lay a hand on me. You might hit something… important." He snapped his finger, and in his hand appeared Kairi, his hand wrapped around her neck. "Don't worry, she's just unconscious. I can't afford to kill her yet. I still need you, Sora." He made Kairi disappear, and under the hood, Sora could hear his smirk. "How about a trade? Meet me at central park tomorrow at midnight. Just bring yourself, and whoever you want. Just don't make any moves on me… or I WILL kill her."

Sora's fists were almost bleeding for how tightly he had them balled up. "…fine." He agreed, hanging his head in defeat.

The cloaked man nodded. "Good! Good!" He giggled, "Oh this is so exciting, don't you think? I always loved trading when I was a kid!" The man waved at the two, "I'll see you all in about 34 hours!"

With that, the man once again disappeared… along with Sora's only reason for living thus far.

"Riku…" He muttered. "We have to get her back, no matter what the costs."

A/N: Those who are curious about the accident, I was driving along a country road, and came out of a turn, and there was a deer standing there. Not really thinking, I turned to avoid it, but my wheels went off the road, I over corrected, and off I went. I lost control, went airborne, tumbled a few times, and smacked a tree to completely cover the wreck. No airbag deployed, and I had to use my sunroof to get out. Lucky me that the battery was still intact.

Anyway, the story is starting to heat up, and I'll be working on getting towards the climax real shortly. And thanks to all the reviewers. Reviewers **Nightraven**, **SoraIsMyHomeboy**, **Anna Shiki**, **Don't Shoot the** **Puppy** (good name choice, haha), **Redhound**, **DestinyKeyblader28**… all of your support is appreciated. For all those who have favorited the story, my thanks to you all as well. You guys make the story what it is. Without you guys, the story is a bunch of text on a screen.


	7. Keeping a Promise

"_This is it… this is how I will combat the darkness. I'll come for you, and I'll free you from your enslavement, Princess. I promise…"_

Sora held his Keyblade tight in hand as he paced the meeting place. Center of the park, at midnight. Only a few minutes short before it would be time to trade. Sora looked at his best friend who was hiding discretely in a tree, as well as Donald and Goofy, who were in a delta formation with him. With any luck, they'd only ask for the Kingdom Key and the exchange would go smoothly. Kairi had gotten involved far more than he had originally planned. He needed her out of the picture as soon as possible, he didn't want her involved anymore. This would be his last encounter with her… no matter how much he liked her, or how close she was to him, he couldn't let harm come to her anymore because of him.

That's why tonight, he'd vanish and hunt the promise to fix Oathkeeper himself.

Not even Riku knew of the thought, and Sora wasn't even sure how he'd pull it off. He just knew it had to be done. He passed repeatedly, waiting for the masked man to show his face again. At exactly midnight, the dark portal opened, and out came the man under the light post. Sora could hear the maniacal grin in his voice. "Sora! You actually showed! I thought for sure we'd have to reschedule!"

"Let's exchange. You know what we want, what do you want?" Sora growled.

The man nodded, "Excellent. Right down to the business… but, there's one problem." The man stated, crossing his arms.

Sora had a thought in mind, but prayed he was wrong. "What's the problem?"

The man smirked lifting his arms in a mock forgiving way. "I left my bartering chip at home."

Sora readied his weapon and Riku leaped from his hiding spot. Riku sighed as heartless began surrounding them quickly. "Knew it was a trap… yet we walked right into it." Both Sora and Riku scanned the soon to be battlefield, and neither of them liked what was coming. "I don't even see an end to them…"

The man laughed, "That's because there IS no end! The witching hour, my friends! They will creep up from the dark and from your shadows! There is no end to them! Sora, surely you feel your own inner darkness trying to take hold…"

Sora cursed under his breath, but he was right. Sora was having a hard time restraining the darker being. He could feel it in his chest, every heartbeat felt like it'd set the being loose. "Riku... you need to get yourself and Donald and Goofy outta here. If I lose control… he'll kill everyone." A heartless lunged at Sora, and with a quick swipe from his Keyblade, he rendered it defeated. "Riku, please…" He muttered.

Riku shook his head. "Then sit back and wait. We can't leave you as is; you know that. These things will butcher you." Riku threw his Keyblade in the midst of some of the weaker ones, watching five turn to the black mist before the Keyblade disappeared into a dark light and reappearing in Riku's hand. "These small fry are nothing if us three work together."

Sora wanted to fight back with Riku, but he was having far too much trouble containing his own heartless. It was speaking to him, screaming to escape. Sora nodded and took a backseat as his friends went off to fight.

Unable to focus on the fight, Sora began looking for an escape, but instead, what he saw scared him. In front of him, amidst the fighting, he could see the shadow version of him approaching at a stead walking pace. He couldn't bring himself to even take a swipe at it as it walked through his friends. Could they not see it? The heartless him walking straight for his heart. He knew what it was after, and Sora held his weapon, but for reasons unknown he failed to even lift it to a battle ready position…

Sora pleaded with himself. _Come on… _he thought. _Lift your arms… fight back! Don't let him take you over again! Fight! _

Sora closed his eyes, and focused in on his blade, and finally, his strength returned. Looking up, he no longer saw his heartless self, but instead the hooded man who had replaced his previous weapons with a Keyblade of his own. "Such a shame, Sora." He sighed, "If you would just let that monster out, all this could end and we'd save you. But instead, you keep fighting it every step of the way." The man pointed his Keyblade at Sora. "You see this weapon, boy?" Sora nodded, reading his own Keyblade. "This weapon is Oathkeepers opposite… oh yes, you know it don't you?

"It's Oblivion. If I stab your heart with it, you will die. So… this is it for you!" The man lunged at Sora, who dodged quickly, but still felt his arm get cut. "Oh it feels so much better to have a Keyblade in my hands once again…" The cloaked man lunged again and began taking heavy swipes, fast and rapid.

Sora could not hold them back a few got by and cut. Some were just minor, others took a clean amount off of him. A gash went right through his collar bone area, a near vital stroke that would've had his head rolling, had it been just a few inches to the left. This fight was dangerous, and he needed out as soon as possible. As much as he refused it in his head, the heartless within was a prime suspect for the fight at hand… and it wanted out more than ever before. Not only was he threatened, but the heartless as well. Maybe… if he let it out…

He removed the thought as soon as it had entered. The cloaked figure finally took too long on a swipe, and Sora took his chance. With a punch to the gut, he paralyzed the man for enough time that Sora took a clean swipe at the man's arm. The attack hit, and the puncture Sora created with the sharp end of his weapon was extremely deep. The man screamed out in pain and dropped his weapon. "A lucky strike, son." He said and held his arm to keep from bleeding.

Sora did not stop, even though the fight was won. He took a strike at the man's head with the blunt part of the weapon, knocking him to the ground, and he stood on the man's throat, his Keyblade poised and ready to pierce the man's heart. Sora's left eye had altered to a beady yellow color and he grinned as victory was his. "Well, it seems the battle has turned in my favor. Any final words?"

"Yeah. Your girlfriend will die if you don't save her soon." The hood fell off his face and his glowing yellow eyes clearly pointed towards behind Sora.

Sora turned, and his eye returned to its color as he saw Kairi being surrounded by heartless. She looked terrified, as she had no way to defend herself… and she was hurt. "Kairi…" Sora whispered and bolted towards her, readying his weapon to strike down the heartless that were surrounding her, and draw their attention to him. He cut through three with one swipe, and all the heartless refocused their attention on him.

Sora was forced to leave Kairi where she was, and he backed away luring them with him. A few got gutsy and jumped for him, but he was able to swipe them away without a problem, while the rest just followed. Finally after taking a minute of walking backwards, they finally all jumped at him. He lunged forward at one and cut it up, and as a soldier group leaped up he rolled forward, and in their collision on the ground, he plunged the blade through all three of them. The remaining heartless knew they had met their match, and retreated. Sora sighed as the clock struck 12:30 and a majority of the heartless disappeared in their portals.

The next sound was clapping. A very slow clapping sound. "Well done, Sora! You are a formidable warrior, as I had expected!" Sora turned to face the voice, a man with his hood down, and the other man with his hood up clutching where Sora had cut through his arm. "I am Xehanort. And I must say, while you are powerful, I have no use for someone who will resist the darkness within himself."

Sora clenched his Keyblade and replied, "Darkness? This curse within me is nothing!" He confidently replied.

Xehanort chuckled. "Then allow me to show you what controlling and unleashing the darkness can do." Xehanorts shadow emerged from the ground, taking on a large, burly warrior shape. "Deal with this, and tell me that curse is nothing!" The shadow leaped from the ground and flew into the sky for a short bit, then vanished into the ground.

Sora watched looking for any unusual movement, it was a shadow… but it struck with ferocity. Sora had just enough time to turn and block an attack as it emerged from the ground, but before Sora could even get out of his defensive blocking stance, it was gone. He felt something grab him from behind and tossed him.

Sora flew through the air at a perfectly constant line, and crashed into a tree. He rolled on his feet with what adrenaline he had, but dropped back to a single knee. "You'd think I'd be used to this by now…" He mumbled to himself. He looked around, and cringed as he heard the familiar voice call out to him inside his mind.

"**Sora…" **It spoke. **"Let me do this! Let me slaughter this heartless! Let me slaughter the one called Xehanort! Let me dissect him! I want to see what darkness makes him tick! Let me! Let me, Let me, Let me!" **

Sora shook his head the voice pounding even louder. He refused to let it take over, but he could see the black of the night beginning to absorb and encroach over his skin, starting with half his face. This fight wouldn't work. Not if he had to fight the shadow and his inner darkness.

Sora heard Xehanort cackle, "Perfect! Splendid! The Darkness within is slowly consuming you… but it is too slow, and you're too resistant. I know the perfect way to fix that." He stopped laughing and shouted at his shadow. "Kill the girl!"

Sora's eyes widened as he scanned for the monster, his eyes already jumping to her death scene. His fear shoved the voice out of his head, and he bolted back on his feet with a newfound energy surge that wasn't present before. He saw the shadow emerge from a tree trunk, and made its way for Kairi, who was to Sora. He had a chance.

A chance was all he needed.

Summoning all his strength and willpower, he sprinted with all remaining energy, and the surge he had. He raced against the shadow as it darted to the same location, but with intentions far worse than Sora's. Each step felt like he was getting further away, and time seemed to slow. Sora hadn't noticed, but his heart was racing, his hands were sweating. More from his nerves than physical exertion, and his wounds, despite the horrid feeling they gave him earlier, had all but disappeared. As Sora got in front of Kairi, time began to speed up, and as he got on front of her, he held the Kingdom Key in front of him, and poised the blade so the teeth of the key could be seen by the shadow. He turned towards Kairi, and he saw her face. The lost look in her eyes, the tears that glistened on the moonlight, and her eyes began to widen more with realization on what Sora was doing. Her lips curved downward as he could begin to make out her lips, a shout on the verge, one that he could not hear over his increasingly loud heartbeat.

Sora turned to face the Shadow as it approached him. He heard his inner darkness voice speak out in his head. **"What are you doing? You're going to kill yourself! You're going to kill me! What are you thinking! Let me have control, or you'll kill us both!"**

Sora let out a half-hearted laugh as the sleek void shadow approached him. "That's the point, heartless."

The shadow impacted Sora's blade with such force that the Kingdom Key shattered into dozens of pieces. The next thing Sora felt was his stomach become pierced, slowly at first, but suddenly time sped up as he was lifted off the ground by the shadow creature. Sora flew a few feet, and then collapsed onto the ground, his throat forcing up blood. **"You fool! Let me out, I can save us!"**

Sora coughed, but still smiled, triumphant. "It ends now. For both of us."

"**No! It cannot end this way! I must… I must… I cannot enter the light… not here… I was to be…"**

The voice faded, and Sora grinned. Peace. Quiet. He looked to where Kairi sat, stunned still. He felt the cool air of the night sliver its cold grasp over Sora, cooling his hot blood and his fatal wound. The cold touch of death slowly began crawling through his body. Sora coughed, and blood dribbled further out his mouth. He noticed that the full moon in the night was out in full, and it shined in the park giving the grass a color different than green.

The grass had been such a beautiful navy color that night.

The world began to blur together, but he saw Kairi begin to scramble towards him, and while his hearing had begun to fade with his vision, he could make out her sobs. If there were ever a time to say his true feelings for her, this was the time. To tell her all the times he wished he could kiss her, hold her hand, call her 'his'. All of it… this would be it. However, Sora could not bring himself to do it. He coughed up another bit of blood and looked at her, the only feature he could see was her violet looking eyes. Instead of giving her his only regret to carry, he decided he'd spare her. "See Kairi?" He whispered to her. "I told you I'd save you…"

"No! Sora! Don't go! Don't leave!" Kairi was obviously shouting, but her voice sounded miles away, and he was only getting further away. "Sora, please… don't go. I never got to tell you that I…"

Her voice faded, and Sora's last response was to her was a tear. She'd never know how sorry he was for leaving her.

…

_A promise kept through more than great sacrifice. But the Ultimate Sacrifice. It has not only unlocked the door to Oathkeeper for you, Sora…_

A/N: Forever a day late and dollar short, I put this together nearly exhausted from Christmas riff raff (don't get me wrong on that. I loved my Christmas!) For everyone who gave me their condolences from my accident, I thank you, and I am sorry this update took forever long.

**NightRaven 13: **Thanks for caring, and reviewing. Your accident sounds a lot worse than mine, that's for sure.

**MagixSxientixt24: **Thanks, it's an idea that has gone through multiple phases, and this is its last phase.

**Don't Shoot the Puppy: **Where did you steal the name from? And thanks for reviewing!

**KairiXPrincessXofXLight: **Here's the update you wanted! Hope it's up to par, and not too terribly late.

In other news, I just became a Sophomore at my University, soon to start Engineering school next Fall if I keep my current GPA. As well, Merry Christmas! Destiny Café is next on my list to be updated, so whoever was the fan of Destiny Café, that one will be updated to a much happier tune than this chapter.


	8. Promise Kept

A/N:

Sora woke up in a blank room. For reasons he could not explain, he was standing on his own. He was here, and last he remembered, he was without life. Which then sparked the complete chain of events. His defense of Kairi, his death, and now, waking up here.

Sora wandered about, wondering if he was in the step between life and death. He looked around, and kept walking in all directions, seeing the same thing over and over. Nothing was there. He could only see the blank room in every direction he went.

Finally giving up, he slumped on the ground, sitting to give himself a break. For reasons unknown to him, he was too tired to keep walking and as time wore on, the blank room he was in was getting cold. No matter how he adjusted himself, he just could not get warm. He chuckled to himself as he leaned back a bit. "I guess this is what it looks like when I'm dead…"

"Sora!"

That voice. Sora shot up, and looked around, trying to locate the owner. He looked left, and saw nothing. He looked right and saw nothing. He shot back up to his feet, warmth somewhat returned to his body, and energy shot into his system. "Kairi?" He replied, his voice echoing all around him. "Kairi?" He shouted, his voice echoing to triple its original volume. "Kairi! Where are you?" He ran for a short while in one direction, continually shouting, then picked another at random and shouted as he ran that way. He needed to find Kairi. She shouldn't be in this place.

"Sora!"

This voice was still hers, and he could pinpoint it. There was no echo like his voice, but he knew where it was. Turning to where he heard the voice he took off shouting her name. He ran and each stepped seemed to drain more than the last, and the blank room began to turn dark… almost black. Before he knew it he was completely surrounded by a glowing black, and the roof was a white color now. "Kairi! Please, say something!"

"Sora!"

The boy turned to his left, and saw the redhead, however, he completely ignored the fact that the voice sounded different… just a little bit darker than usual. Kairi was facing away from him, just standing there. He took off running towards her, and shouted at her, "Kairi! Am I glad to see-"

She turned around and Sora was silenced immediately as her eyes were a complete, and beady yellow color. The fake Kairi grinned evilly and looked over at him, her voice now completely hostile and dark in tone, spat at him, "You really do care too much for this stupid bitch."

The moment the fake Kairi finished, he took a hostile stance towards it. "Leave her out of this, and stop pretending to be her!"

It laughed and waved off Sora's words. "But why would I stop being your weakness? I've seen how you act around her. I've experienced your nervousness when you're around her. That feeling where your stomach becomes a bottomless pit. Your knees become week. Where the only reason you even fight is to protect her." The grinning smile it wore faded, as did the fake Kairi skin. "It sickens me."

It turned into an all too familiar object, the black outline of Sora as he saw countless times in mirrors. "You! Why are you here!"

"For one thing!" It shouted back. "I am not about to crawl in a hole and die like you originally planned. I brought you here to settle this once and for all!" It turned its forearms into black blades. "Startling what I can do, huh? This is my realm."

Sora braced himself for the fight, before remembering just what exactly the darkness was. "You can't harm me. You'll only end up killing yourself."

Sora could hear the smirk underneath the black of the creature. "You did do your homework." Sora's anti-form self put away his weapon, and began walking. "Then allow me to show you what's going to happen if we both fade out."

Sora raised a questioning eyebrow, but decided with nothing better to be done here except wander endlessly, he followed as the black soon turned into his home. At first, it was just the sound of sand. Then the image of it, followed by water and its sound, then trees, housing, and finally, Destiny Islands.

Sora walked on, his shadow no longer with him. He walked around until he saw Kairi. She was wearing black and walking into the cemetery. Kairi wasn't one to wear black… He shouted out to her. "Kairi!" But she completely ignored him. "Kairi! I'm right here!" He took off running after her, only to be caught by his shadow self.

"You're an imbecile. This is all just an image of what is to come. She can't here you. For it has not happened yet." The shadow released him and began commentating. "You see Sora, in this future, you're dead. Killed by that shadow as you protected Kairi. This is the future you're on track for."

Sora watched idly as Kairi went to his grave, where Riku was waiting for her. Sora stood quietly and listened in standing right in front of them, hearing their every word that exchanged between them.

He saw Kairi's lip quiver, she was obviously trying to act strong in front of Riku, but Riku put a hand on her shoulder.

"Kairi…" Riku began, his eyes watering. "It-It's okay." Riku sniffled lightly, holding back his own tears, seldom letting even a second escape. "It's okay to cry."

As soon as Riku finished, Kairi dropped and began crying her eyes out. "Sora, why?" She choked out between tears. "Why did you have to die?" She sobbed. "I didn't even get my chance with you…"

Sora smirked triumphantly, and turned towards the shadow next to him. "What's your point? They're mourning my loss. And I stopped you."

The monster beside him returned the smirk. "Of course they do. In the current time, you only died two days ago. Let's skip ahead when the shock and 'boohoo' waterworks are over. Let's say… five years."

Sora watched as the cemetery changed in the blink of an eye. Other graves were added, a monument for some wealthy man, and Sora's grave, somewhat chipped, and beginning to show some age.

Once again, their stood Riku and Kairi, both of them wearing more casual clothes, and Kairi putting a bouqet of flowers on his tombstone. "Hard to believe it's been five years already, Riku." She stated, getting back on her feet. Neither of them even showed the slightest hints of tears. "Five years…"

Riku nodded. "I can't say I don't miss him. I do. He was my best friend. Sure we had our arguments and disputes… but he was a younger brother to me." Riku looked down at Kairi. "At least we're still here, though."

Sora caught Kairi blush, "Y-yeah. At least we still have each other." Kairi looked back up at Riku who smiled down at her.

Sora watched in horror as his best friend linked hands with Kairi, and slowly they kissed. Riku would never do that! "You're wrong! Riku is my best friend! He knew my feelings for Kairi! He wouldn't dare do that!" Sora shouted at his heartless self.

His Other kept its cool. "You forget, my moronic clone, you've been dead five years. In five years, they've grown closer. You were their stepping stone to get closer to one another. You boosted them forward, and gave them a chance at what you always wanted."

Silent shock.

The heartless pressed on. "Oh, it gets better. Let's skip ahead five more years."

Sora blinked again and the setting changed once more. Once again, more graves were added, and Sora watched as Riku and Kairi stood side by side in silence. Sora thought for just a second, that maybe their relationship ended. That both Riku and Kairi remembered Sora's feelings, and that they were intruding on him.

He was horridly mistaken as a little boy ran up to Riku and Kairi. "Mommy, daddy! Can we go home now?" Sora looked closer at the small child and saw that it had long, silver hair like Riku, but the eyes… They were a violet-blue color. Identical to Kairi's. "What are you two doing?"

Riku and Kairi looked at the boy. "This… this is the grave of a close friend to us." Riku stated. "A very close friend who… passed away long before you were born."

"Oh… well can we go home?" He asked.

Kairi giggled, and Riku sighed. "Yes, we can go home, son."

As they walked off, Sora began to feel his heart crumbling. "That's… that's supposed to be me… and Kairi… and our son…" Sora looked over at his heartless self. "This… this isn't true! This is all a ruse! You're trying to get me to give in!"

The heartless shrugged. "That's part of the plan, yes. But look, you are _dead_. You have no say anymore, you sacrificed yourself for the greater good. You never gave yourself a chance to become successful, or even grow up past seventeen. Now, as I was going to show," The heartless chuckled. "Let's go just one last jump into the future. Say, five years again."

Sora blinked, and the setting shifted just slightly, but his grave was entirely different. It was chipped, old, and starting to fade. His name could barely be distinguished amongst the faded stone. The date of his birth and death was unreadable. It was just a rock now. But that wasn't what made his heart sink.

It was that Riku and Kairi were not there. His mother wasn't, his other friends weren't… no one. His grave was alone, and fading into nothing. "I…" He swallowed hard. "I've been forgotten."

"By the very ones you called best friends. And not just that, without you around, Kairi could confess to Riku, who she actually liked. That's been your biggest fear, and looks like it's reality come five years from your death."

Sora turned to his other self, feeling his heart beat slower and slower… or maybe he was just losing the will to live. Sure, as a younger kid his will to live was always that for adventure, or what he could find to eat in the dirt. But as he grew older, his order if priorities shifted, and as much as he hated to say it, she had become his primary focus. Kairi became a lot of what he did. To see that she became not his, but Riku's instead… what was the purpose? She didn't like him, and he knew it.

"You sacrificed yourself for a girl who did not want you to begin with." His heartless began taking steps towards him. "I know you still care for her, but it's not the end. If we work together, we can conquer her, and Riku. Become strong, and get revenge on the guy who stole everything from you, by finishing you."

Sora looked up, he could feel his body become heavy, and was ready to drop. He remained standing, however, and his mind began ticking. The darkness he thought was so hostile, so evil… it was offering him a way to get back at his killer. A last stand, a finest hour. A chance to get revenge on the man who took his chance away from Kairi.

"_But… what if I don't want Riku to save me?"_

Sora turned around, and saw that he was standing on the beach with Kairi's back facing him. That line... he remembered it. She had asked him that after he was nearly killed at the school. Sora's body kicked back into gear. He didn't save Kairi for his own selfish needs of wanting her to like him in return, he did it because he promised her, and it was a promise he wanted to keep. A promise he kept in death. Sora looked at her, and she turned to give him a smile. That smile… one that he wished she would always give to others. The one he refused to steal away from her. She kept smiling, and then broke into much smaller bits like grains of sands, and disappearing on the winds of Fate. "Thank you, Kairi…" He muttered, and turned back to his heartless, who was now wide eyed. "You and me, if I am to die here, damnit I'm taking you with me!"

Sora reached his hand out and punched it straight in the chest, feeling that that was the place to kill it. Sora felt the heartless screech as he himself felt his own punch hit him. "You are not me! And while you may be my darker side, you will not control me! Not anymore! I will not fall! Not to you! "

The monster began losing its black substance, and Sora could see a mirror reflection of his face… except the one he watched was horror stricken. "This… isn't possible… such strong will… such a powerful heart…" The monster paused as Sora could begin to see his own image looking at him. "Perhaps… a heart this strong is what will be the death of us all… I guess I can live serving such a powerful heart. But know this…" It warned. "The moment you falter, I will take you down, and consume your heart."

As the black substance was completely drained from the heartless, and all that remained was Sora's spitting image, the real Sora grinned. "You won't be taking me."

"Maybe not today. But you will falter one day. And I'll be there to destroy you."

Finally, Sora's second shattered like glass, vanishing into nothing, as a breeze swept it away, and Sora looked at his hand. He looked back at the water, and grinned. "Hang on, Kairi. Riku. I'm not dead yet." Sora dove into the water feeling heat radiating from his body his legs completely as he let the waters of life wash over him.

His body shot up, and he was quickly back on his feet, it was dark, the grass was navy, and he, breathing. Sora looked at where he was laying prior and saw that Kairi, tear stained cheeks and all, looked up at him in shock. "Kairi, I would love to explain everything… but not now." She nodded, still too far in shock to understand what he meant, let alone how his stomach had sealed up so quickly.

Turning back to Xehanort and his shadow, Sora summoned his own. The shadow emerged from the ground, standing beside him. "You're right. The power of my shadow is greater than mine alone. Now, imagine us both."

Xehanort smiled. "Excellent. I knew I wasn't just a fluke."


	9. The Truth Begins to Unfold

A/N: Just another weekly update. I have one hour break between classes, so writing this is what I do. Updates are way more frequently… assuming I wake up on time. xD Anyway, hope you all enjoy this chapter.

Sora questioned what the man was saying. It didn't make any sense… sure he had a shadow such as the one Sora just gained, but… "What are you talking about?"

"I would love to stay and chat, but for now, there is more to be done than idly sit and share our pasts." Xehanort took his bow. "But, now that we know just what is possible… we will not stop coming after you." Xehanort decided then to promptly take his leave. He vanished into his shadow, which then took off and scurried through the ground and off to the horizon. Sora's shadow blended back with the ground, and attached back at his feet. He turned to Kairi who was still wearing tear stained cheeks. He smiled at her. "Hey." He replied awkwardly as she got to her feet.

She took one step towards him cautiously.

He frowned at her cautious attitude, but quickly replaced it with a small grin. "I promised you, didn't I?" He turned to face her completely "I'd protect you."

Sora had to say, that just like when he woke up on his bed with Kairi in his room, the bone crushing hug he received was incredibly strong. So strong and forceful, he was knocked onto the ground. He looked up at Kairi who had her head buried into his shoulder. He almost had to pry her off of him as he tried gasping for air. "Kairi, it's okay. I'm still alive."

Sora regretted prying her the moment the slap from her echoed throughout the park. "What the hell?" Sora rubbed his cheek. "What did you do that for?" He asked.

"You **IDIOT**!" she screamed at him between tears. "You almost- no- did die! You died in front of my very eyes!" She yelled at him, and she got on top of him and began hitting his chest as hard as she could. "You almost left me! You almost left Riku! You can't imagine what we would've gone through had you died!"

Sora inwardly cringed. He was pretty sure he knew.

"A-and," she choked out as her crying once again got heavy. "You didn't even hear me. You didn't feel me as you died." Her hits became softer, and she began to hit him less and less. "You didn't hear me… you left without giving me the chance to let you know how I felt…" She pressed her palm into his shirt, grabbing it right over his chest.

Sora laid there quietly and watched as she lightly trembled. He didn't have the motivation to move, nor did he want to interrupt her. Her hair covered her head, but he could feel her grip tighten as he saw her other hand reach for her own heart. Sora adjusted himself and gently reached for her chin, tilting her head up so their eyes locked. Her violet-blue ones with his ocean blue. He couldn't look away, and he flashed a small, shy smile. She returned it, and slowly they drew their heads closer. He could hear her breathing, and he could feel her breath against his. This was it, he was going to kiss Kairi, confess to her, and they'd start dating. Just like it happened in the movies.

Too bad nothing ever works out like it does in the movies, though.

"Sor- oh, I'll wait."

Sora and Kairi both shot away and looked annoyed at Riku. Kairi gave him a small smile, and he returned it. As they both moved to get back on their feet, Sora looked at Riku. "What is it?"

"Catch."

Sora caught his Kingdom Key, or what was left of it, anyway. A completely smashed blade with nothing but free flowing air where the blade once was, and a hilt with one guard completely missing, and the other chipped. However, there was something different… the chipped guard was a silver color, and was partially changed from its hexagon shape. It looked similar to Oathkeeper's hilt… Suddenly, it clicked.

Not hesitating, Sora summoned Oathkeeper, in his right hand, and saw that the blade was completely repaired, sturdy, and it felt great in his hand. The missing guard was there, but the chipped one still remained broken. Sora looked at the blade, astonished at how much of it was repaired, before he snapped back to reality.

As if the blade had spoken to him, Sora tossed the last part of the Kingdom Key on the ground. And with the incomplete Oathkeeper, smashed the remaining part of the Kingdom Key, in a bright silver light, the Kingdom Key shattered, and the last part of Oathkeeper was attached. "Broken by a promise unkept," Sora whispered as he held the blade in his hand. "Repaired by a promise kept."

"It's been quite some time, pal."

Sora turned to face the voice, a familiar voice, attached with that familiar short body. Behind the man was the rising sun, had they really been here so long? "It's you!" Sora replied, getting on his feet.

"That it is, Sora." The small man then drew a weapon out, very similar to his own Kingdom Key, except the blade was a solid golden color. "Don't mind the weapon. It's just I'm expecting you to lose yourself to that heartless you just made a pact with."

Sora took offense, and wielded his weapon in an aggressive stance. "I didn't make a pact with that monster." Sora muttered, his left eye turning into a beady yellow.

"You're turning out to be identical to Xehanort, or as I know him: Case Zero. You're Case One. You and Xehanort are identical, except for one thing."

"Oh yeah?" Sora asked, tightening his grip on the blade. "What's the difference?"

The small man removed his Keyblade, and lowered his hood, revealing a head with black hair, and black eyes. "We treated Case Zero with evil intent. We will not make that same mistake again."

Sora in return lowered his weapon, but did not remove it from sight. "What do you mean?"

"There is a time and place for everything. You've come far on your own without anyone to assist you." He kept going, completely ignoring Sora. "Though no one could have predicted your convenient circumstances. We have much to discuss, but not here where it is so open."

Sora had dozens of questions swimming gleefully in his head, but he decided best to not provoke the small man. Instead he opted for just one. "Then where would you suggest we meet again?"

"The abandoned warehouse along the shortcut; the one you took when you first discovered this curse." The man began walking away, "And my name is Mickey. I also expect all of you to be there. Six in the evening." The man disappeared behind a tree and magically, he was gone. Completely out of sight, despite all logic that he should still be there.

Sora dismissed Oathkeeper, and turned to face his friends. Sora looked at Kairi and Riku, "So, what do we do?" Sora asked.

"First and foremost, we need to think about this before we stupidly rush head first into it." Riku raised a second finger to tally off, "Second, today is a Thursday, and while I don't think this is a priority, we do need to go to school."

Sora and Kairi both shrugged. "While normally I would not agree with this plan of action," Sora began, looking back towards his house. "We need something to get our minds cleared somehow." Sora turned back to his friends. "Somehow, I feel like we're in for a life changer."

"And for once, I think you're right." Riku finished.

The entire day Sora could only think about what he might be told in the meeting later that day. He went through physics with the only thing in his mind, lunch was no better (he still had to sit by himself due to the circumstances from earlier that month.) And when the day finally ended, he sat on the steps of the school. Riku had a detention to serve before they could even begin to move, so he sat and waited while Kairi was off doing Kairi things. He watched the sun begin to set on the cooled evening horizon.

The sun setting was always so peaceful around this time of year. The front of the school faced the beach, and the road after four became scarcely travelled by any kind of vehicle. Sora often found it hard to sit in silence, but the setting sun spoke volumes to him. He always had a fascination with the sky. He chuckled to himself as he remembered Kairi's pun that he always had his head in the clouds. She was right in multiple ways.

Kairi… Sora swore he wouldn't get her anymore involved after last night. However, it looked like it was far too late. Mickey had called all three of them to attend. He knew why he was summoned, but not Riku, and definitely not Kairi. Kairi didn't deserve to get mixed up in any of this. This was a mess even he himself didn't want to be involved in. Sora summoned Oathkeeper in his hand, inspecting the weapon. It was far more intricate than the Kingdom Key, and it looked like more went into its creation than the Kingdom. So then why was the Kingdom shattering so important?

"Sora?"

He turned around and looked behind him, noticing Kairi standing behind him. Sora smiled at her, "Hey Kairi."

She took this as an invitation to sit next to him, and she stared off at the setting sun herself. "Sora…" she began, "what are you?"

He looked at her questioningly, but her appearance proved that she was dead serious. He opened his mouth to answer, but nothing came out. He tried answering her, but each time his mind failed. Sora could not find the answer even for himself. "I… I don't even know myself. I thought I was the only one like this. That man Xehanort… he proved I was not unique." Sora leaned back looking towards the fading blue sky, and away from the setting sun. "I hope Mickey has the answer."

"Me too." She simply stated. "There's so much I want to know… when I was captured, I thought it was just to get at you and Riku… but it seems like there was much, much more to it." She drummed her hands against the concrete stairs. "Sora, they said my heart was key."

However, before Sora could ask what she meant by that, Riku showed up, and instead of discussing it further, they left it at that. Perhaps Mickey could explain it. The trip was a silent and foreboding one. None of them wished to speak of what they might learn, or what they would hear. Riku had a very solemn expression, Kairi was unreadable, and Sora was simply mystified at the turn of events. Not just two months ago he was attending school normally, living normally, pursuing a normal everything. Now… that wasn't possible. At least, for the moment it was impossible.

When they arrived, Mickey, along with Yin Sid were already waiting, as well were a few other people he had never seen in his life. "I was worried you all wouldn't show." Mickey said, turning to the trio. "I believe you already met Yin Sid. The girl with the short black hair is Yuffie, the black jacket, brown hair is Squall-"

"Leon" Said man corrected.

"-And the blonde haired man is Cid." Mickey finished naming them off. "We were originally a part of the research team that was performing experiments on Case Zero."

"What kind of experiments?" Riku asked.

"He was the first live specimen we found that was infected with Viral Strand Two. You all know it as the Heartless Curse, and at first, we thought it was something we could control. Use as a weapon against the Nobodies. We were wrong. Horribly wrong." Mickey paused for a split second, "We were created a monster. Unlike with you, we antagonized the Heartless, we gave it a reason to hate. It began talking to him, giving him ideas, and finally during one experiment, the curse took fruition faster than predicted. He slaughtered the entire team, minus us select few."

"How did you all make out alive, then?" Sora asked, barely believing any of this as truth.

"I was a part of the security detail. I was off duty at the time." Leon replied.

"I too, was security." Yuffie added, "I was in the cafeteria when he broke loose.

"And I was convincing our leader, Ansem, that these experiments were too much. He whole heartedly agreed, but his assistants did not, and the experiment that pushed Xehanort over the edge was one of their unauthorized ones." Mickey concluded that question, and moved on. "This was no Virus Strand, but actual magic. We couldn't believe it at first, but no matter what we did, the scientific method did not work, and we failed to reproduce it." Mickey stopped to catch his breath, and summoned his Keyblade. "So, us few here decided to consult Yin Sid, a man who knows his lore."

On cue, Yin Sid spoke up. "The Heartless Curse is the only known curse that survived into modern day myth and lore, and is the only one not proven false. That's because it is true. Though no one wishes it to be; it is a fact we all must accept. The Keyblade, including Oathkeeper, Oblivion, Kingdom, Way to Dawn… all of them are weapons with the design to kill Heartless, though throughout the years, they lost that ability. The weapons themselves are tainted. The only way to hunt the darkness and destroy it, is to become one with evil. However, one must not become tainted by the evils alluring grasp for power."

"Wait, wait." Riku stopped them. "Why can I wield a Keyblade if I'm not one with this evil?"

"Riku, do you remember your father?" Yin Sid asked.

"No…" He solemnly replied, "I don't remember him. He was gone long before-"

"You were born. Disappeared." Yin Sid finished. "He didn't abandon you, Riku. Nor did he your mother. We met once, but only after he had been turned into a Heartless. You carry his blood that had been tainted. Thus, you can wield the Keyblade."

Riku was silent for a second before he summoned his own Keyblade. "So… I may have killed my father…" Riku told himself.

"You have not." Yin Sid corrected, "You've only met him three times. Each time you all did not fight." Before Riku could say anything else, Yin Sid got back on track, "The Keyblade can only be summoned by those tainted by evil, but after researching, there has been one person pure of heart who can wield the Keyblade. The Princess of Heart. The one who was spoken of in the legend, the one Taiki fell in love with. The Princess of Heart is among us." Yin Sid walked towards Kairi, and put his hand on her shoulder. "Your Majesty."

Sora looked between them, and as everything began clicking, he shook his head and asked:

"She's the what?"


End file.
